efttriSt 


^«;a^BrU8:iotisi  WtUtS  mXi  a. 


MM.MmM>,.MLOWER 


GIFT  OF 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 
By  R.  O.  Flower 


Christian   Science 

As  a  Religious  Belief  and  a 
Therapeutic  Agent 


By 
B.  O.  FLOWER 

Author  of  "The  Century  of  Sir  Thomas  More,"  "How  England 

Averted  a  Revolution  of  Force."  "Whittier:  Prophet, 

Seer  and  Man,"  Etc.,  Etc. 


Boston 

Twentieth  Century  Company 

1910 


F4 


Copyright,  1909 

TwE]!^TiETH  Century  Company 

Published  December,  1909 

Second  Edition,  October,  1910 


CONTENTS 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  AS  A  RELIGION 

Chapter  I 
Christ,  the  Sick  and  Modern  Christianity      j 

Chapter  II 

The  Master  Note  in  the  Message  of  Chris- 

tian  Science  .         .  .  •     ^9 

CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE  — A    THERA- 
PEUTIC  AGENT 

Chapter  III 
Christian  Science  and  Organic  Disease    .     6i 

Chapter  IV 

Medical  Explanations  of  Christian  Science 
Cures  Considered  in  the  Light  of 
Typical  Cases  .  -99 

239181 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/christianscienceOOflowrich 


PREFACE 

T  IS  only  fair  to  Christian  Science 
and  the  author  to  say  at  the  out- 
set that  I  am  not  a  member  of 
the  Christian  Science  fellowship  ; 
but  I  am  a  lover  of  fair  play  and  of  all  things 
that  make  for  a  nobler  and  purer  life  and  the 
true  happiness  of  the  people. 

Several  years  ago,  I  entertained  much  of 
the  popular  prejudice  that  is  usually  mani- 
fested toward  new  theories,  discoveries  and 
truths  which  run  counter  to  the  popular  and 
generally  accepted  concepts  of  society.  But 
I  have  always  made  it  a  rule  of  my  life  to  try 
and  understand  a  subject  before  attempting 
to  criticise  or  to  influence  others  either  for 
or  against  it.  I,  therefore,  made  a  personal 
study  of  the  subject  in  order  to  be  able  to 
discuss  it  intelligently. 

When  I  began  my  investigation,  I  shared 
the  general  opinion  that  all  cures  that  ac- 
tually occurred  were  those  of  functional 
troubles ;  that  in  the  presence  of  organic  dis- 


viii  PREFACE 

ease  Christian  Science  would  necessarily  fail. 
The  result  of  my  investigation  was  most  sur- 
prising. At  every  turn  I  was  confronted  by 
cures  of  cases  that  had  baffled  medical  treat- 
ment, a  large  proportion  of  which  had  been 
pronounced  by  thoroughly  intelligent  physi- 
cians to  be  organic  troubles.  One  case — that 
of  a  lady  whom  I  had  known  to  have  been  a 
confirmed  invalid  since  my  childhood,  was 
typical  of  the  results  being  obtained  on  every 
hand  which  could  not  be  laughed  out  of  court 
as  the  result  of  imagination.  Briefly,  the 
facts  in  this  case  are  as  follows : 

For  more  than  thirty  years  this  lady  had 
been  under  the  care  of  leading  physicians  in 
prominent  cities,  including  Evansville,  In- 
diana, St.  Louis  and  Boston.  The  physi- 
cians had  all  treated  her  for  the  same  trouble 
without  affording  any  permanent  relief.  If 
she  walked  more  than  six  or  eight  blocks  she 
suffered  greatly  and  was  compelled  to  lie 
down  for  a  long  time.  She  had  suffered  from 
hemorrhages  for  many  years,  which  were 
gradually  growing  worse.  Eight  years  ago 
she  was  treated  by  a  Christian  Science  practi- 
tioner, and  in  a  few  weeks  the  hemorrhages 
and  all  other  symptoms  of  the  trouble  for 
which  she  had  been  treated  entirely  disap- 


PREFACE  ix 

peared  and  have  never  returned.  She  is  to- 
day in  far  better  health,  although  in  the 
seventies,  than  I  had  ever  known  her  to  be 
prior  to  her  treatment  by  Christian  Science. 

I  cite  this  case  merely  because  my  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  party  enabled  me  to 
know  the  absolute  facts  regarding  her  con- 
dition during  this  long  period  of  time,  al- 
though it  is  not  nearly  so  remarkable  as 
many  other  cures  which  will  be  noticed  fur- 
ther in  this  volume. 

I  soon  found  that  I  had  to  revise  my  opin- 
ions and  theories  in  regard  to  the  cures  being 
made  by  Christian  Science. 

Furthermore,  my  investigation  revealed 
another  fact  which  impressed  me  as  of  far 
greater  importance  than  the  cures,  and  that 
was  the  value  of  this  new  religious  belief  as 
a  vital  moral  agent  in  a  society  that  was  be- 
coming more  and  more  sordid  and  grossly 
materialistic.  The  more  I  investigated  and 
came  into  intimate  touch  with  Christian 
Science,  the  more  clearly  it  became  apparent 
that  here  was  a  great  leavening  influence, 
dominated  by  spiritual  idealism — a  living 
faith  that  was  completely  changing  the  lives 
of  thousands  of  people.  Here  was  a  moral 
enthusiasm  such  as  made  Primitive  Christian- 


X  PREFACE 

ity  such  a  world-conquering  force.  Here  was 
religious  life  where  formerly  was  stagnation ; 
and  the  influence  on  the  lives  of  men  and 
women  bore  eloquent  testimony  as  to  the 
kind  of  fruit  the  tree  was  bearing.  Here, 
then,  were  the  things  that  aroused  my  deep 
interest  in  Christian  Science,  even  though  my 
personal  views  did  not  at  all  times  agree  with 
its  philosophy. 

When  the  magazines  and  daily  press  began 
to  assail  Christian  Science,  and  the  columns 
of  most  of  these  publications  were  closed  to 
the  other  side,  I  felt  it  a  simple  duty,  as  a 
lover  of  fair  play  and  truth,  to  present  some 
facts  on  the  other  side. 

One  of  the  most  striking  phenomena  pre- 
sented at  the  present  time  is  the  aggressive 
hostility  of  many  of  the  most  orthodox 
Christian  churches — churches  whose  creeds 
hold  to  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Bible, 
and  who  oppose  the  higher  criticism.  These 
denominations  for  the  most  part  denounce 
Christian  Science  when  it  insists  on  taking 
seriously  the  injunctions  of  the  Founder  of 
Christianity  and  the  apostles  and  fathers  of 
the  Primitive  Church  in  matters  that  relate 
to  the  healing  of  disease.  This  amazing  fact 
is  so  much  in  evidence  that  it  seems  to  me  to 
call  for  special  notice. 


PREFACE  xi 

On  the  other  hand,  many  orthodox  church- 
men and  physicians  who  have  been  forced  to 
take  cognizance  of  Christian  Science  because 
of  its  amazing  growth,  have  settled  on  a 
compromise  platform  and  are  carrying  on  the 
warfare  from  this  vantage-ground. 

The  four  chapters  which  constitute  this 
volume  deal  with  the  three  phases  of  Chris- 
tian Science  teaching  and  practice  in  which 
the  general  public  is  most  deeply  interested: 
(i)  Its  religious  precepts  as  reflecting  or  car- 
rying forward  the  teaching  of  the  Founder  of 
Christianity ;  (2)  the  influence  of  its  teachings 
on  the  lives  of  its  adherents;  (3)  Christian 
Science  as  a  therapeutic  agent,  especially  in 
reference  to  the  cure  of  organic  disease. 

It  has  been  my  earnest  desire  to  present 
these  vital  aspects  of  the  subject  in  as  fair, 
accurate  and  just  a  manner  as  possible,  be- 
lieving that  such  presentation  will  appeal  to 
serious-minded  people  and  serve  the  ends  of 
truth. 

B.  0.  Flower 


INTRODUCTION 

HAT  we  in  America  are  living  in 
the  presence  of  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  spiritual  movements  '' 
known  to  history  will  not  be 
questioned  by  any  thoughtful  person  who  is 
cognizant  of  current  events,  where  a  new  re- 
ligious movement  that  a  few  years  ago  was 
as  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness, 
heeded  by  few,  has  become  a  great  moral  and 
religious  factor  in  the  nation  and  the  world. 
Fifteen  years  ago  Christian  Science  had  no 
church  building ;  today  there  are  hundreds 
of  handsome  church  edifices,  besides  the 
magnificent  temple  in  Boston,  which  cost 
two  million  dollars  to  erect ;  while  the 
spread  of  the  faith  among  the  people  and 
its  w^onderful  influence  in  bringing  health, 
peace  and  happiness  while  kindling  anew 
spiritual  idealism  in  tens  of  thousands  of 
hearts,  speaks  of  the  presence  of  a  truth 
vital  to  help  in  a  world  hungering  and  thirst- 
ing for  something  better  than  the  husks  of 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

dogmatic  and  creedal  theology  and  the  ma- 
terialistic externalism  of  forms  and  rites. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  new  truth  crossed  the 
seas  and  has  already  been  gladly  received  in 
various  quarters  of  the  globe.  Seldom  in 
history  has  a  religious  movement  spread 
so  swiftly  and  appealed  so  compellingly  to 
highly  intellectual  and  deeply  earnest  men 
and  women ;  and  the  rapid  growth  has  been 
made  in  the  face  of  a  persistent  campaign  of 
misrepresentation,  misinterpretation  and  slan- 
der rarely  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  spiritual 
advance. 

This  fact  suggests  an  objection  constantly 
advanced  against  Christian  Science  by  those 
who  are  more  given  to  echoing  the  sophistry 
of  conventionalism  than  to  thinking  for 
themselves.  It  is  claimed  that  Mrs.  Eddy 
never  received  a  university  education,  is  not 
what  is  termed  a  learned  woman ;  but  this 
is  merely  the  repetition  of  an  objection  that 
has  been  advanced  time  and  again  against 
great  moral  leaders  and  reformers.  Indeed, 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  learned  Jews  and 
Romans  of  Jesus'  day,  would  He  not  have 
been  regarded  as  ignorant — too  ignorant,  in- 
deed, to  merit  serious  consideration  being 
given  His  words  on  the  part  of  those  who 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

seem  to  imagine  that  scholastic  learning  is 
a  necessary  accompaniment  to  a  vital  moral 
or  spiritual  message?  In  the  case  of  the 
great  Nazarene,  His  lack  of  scholastic  train- 
ing did  not  prevent  His  doing  mighty  works 
or  winning  the  heart  of  the  people  to  a 
nobler  ideal  of  life  and  promulgating  the 
loftiest  code  of  ethics  the  world  has  ever 
known.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  is  it  not  true 
that  almost  every  religious  leader  has  been 
denounced  either  as  ignorant  or  as  a  char- 
latan, an  imposter  and  a  dangerous  charac- 
ter? More  than  this.  How  many  of  these 
have  escaped  being  denounced  as  corrupt, 
immoral  and  beneath  the  respect  of  those 
who  claimed  to  be  pillars  of  reHgion,  society 
and  the  state?  Look,  for  example,  at 
Socrates,  whose  lofty  moral  precepts  have 
been  an  inspiration  to  the  high-minded  for 
over  three  thousand  years.  He  was  con- 
demned to  death  on  the  charge  of  corrupting 
the  youths  of  Athens  and  of  impiety.  His 
corruption  lay  in  teaching  them  to  think  for 
themselves  and  to  think  broadly  and  honesty. 
We  have  no  records  that  voice  the  charges  of 
the  enemies  of  Jesus  or  the  calumnies  and 
slanders  that  doubtless  were  industriously 
circulated  in  regard  to  the  Nazarene,   save 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

those  which  incidentally  crop  out  in  the  writ- 
ings of  His  followers ;  but  from  these  we  see 
how  He  was  criticized.  Thus  on  one  occa- 
sion, it  will  be  remembered,  Jesus  admitted 
that  His  enemies  described  Him  as  a  wine- 
bibber  and  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners, 
or  in  other  words,  as  one  addicted  to  strong 
drink  and  who  associated  with  those  whom 
the  Jews  held  to  be  the  vilest  members  of 
society.  And  we  further  know  what  all  our 
conventional  leaders  in  press,  church  and 
society  would  say  today  of  the  founder  of  a 
religion  that  ran  contrary  to  conventional 
religious  ideals,  who  would  accept  the  hos- 
pitality of  a  man  in  the  social  scale  of  the 
publicans  of  Christ's  time,  or  who  would 
permit  those  whom  the  world  accounted 
fallen  women  to  anoint  his  feet  and  wipe 
them  with  the  hairs  of  their  heads,  or  who 
should  be  followed  from  town  to  town  by 
ignorant  men  and  women  whose  former  lives 
had  been  admittedly  questionable  in  charac- 
ter. What  wild  hysterical  cries  would  today 
be  raised  against  such  a  leader,  especially  if 
he  threatened  the  established  religious  order 
or  aroused  the  antagonism  of  a  great  pro- 
fession whose  members  saw  in  the  result  of 
his  work  and  that  of  his  followers  something 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

that  would  seriously  diminish  their  financial 
revenue ! 

Again,  all  historians  know  that  Luther  and 
Wesley  were  attacked  and  calumniated.  In- 
deed, the  persecution  of  religious  and  moral 
leaders  in  the  past  was  inevitable,  because  the 
people  were  largely  ignorant  and  swayed  by 
the  few  who  claimed  superior  intelligence 
and  knowledge  and  who  held  places  of  power 
and  authority.  But  that  the  same  spirit,  with 
equal  virulence  and  malignity,  should  be 
present  in  the  twentieth  century — the  age  of 
democracy  and  enlightenment — is  a  crying 
shame  against  which  I  hold  that  fair-minded 
men  and  women  should  everywhere  protest. 

Seldom  in  the  past  has  the  leader  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  intelligent,  truth-seek- 
ing souls  been  so  persistently  and  recklessly 
calumniated  as  has  the  founder  of  Christian 
Science.  Time  and  again  have  baseless 
slanders  been  completely  refuted,  only  to  be 
reiterated  with  brazen  effrontery  by  un- 
scrupulous parties  who  sought  to  discredit 
the  message  by  calumniating  the  instrument 
through  which  it  had  been  given  to  the 
world.  At  other  times,  sinister  and  wholly 
unwarranted  constructions  have  been  placed 
on  simple  acts,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  plant- 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

ing  the  seeds  of  suspicion  in  the  public  mind. 
The  story  of  human  progress  is  the  story 
of  the  rejection  of  the  prophet  and  the  per- 
secution, misrepresentation  and  calumniation 
of  the  apostle  of  a  new  truth  by  conventional 
religion  and  society.  Yet  has  progress  ever 
vindicated  the  children  of  the  light.  No  truer 
words  have  been  expressed  by  an  American 
poet  than  James  Russell  Lowell  uttered  when 
he  wrote : 

"By  the  light  of  burning  heretics  Christ's  bleeding 

feet  I  track, 
Toiling  up  new  Calvaries  ever  with  the  cross  that 

turns  not  back, 
And  these  mounts  of  anguish  number  how  each 

generation  learned 
One  new  word  of    that    grand    Credo  which   in 

prophet-hearts  hath  burned 
Since  the  first  man  stood  God-conquered  with  his 

face  to  heaven  upturned. 

"For  Humanity  sweeps  onward:    where  today  the 

martyr  stands, 
On  the  morrow  crouches  Judas  with  the  silver  in 

his  hands ; 
Far  in  front  the  cross  stands  ready  and  the  crackling 

fagots  burn. 
While  the  hooting  mob  of  yesterday  in  silent  awe 

return 
To  glean  up  the  scattered   ashes  into  History's 

golden  urn." 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

The  future  concerns  itself  little  with  the 
pitiful  slanders,  gossip  and  calumny  born  of 
prejudice,  jealousy  or  hate.  It  is  the  message 
that  weighs ;  its  worth  or  worthlessness 
counts  with  the  civilization  of  tomorrow,  and 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  any  message  that  has 
been  so  potent  as  has  Christian  Science  in 
transforming  and  uplifting  lives,  brightening 
and  bringing  peace  and  joy  to  hearts  bowed 
down  with  crushing  grief,  and  light  to  those 
who  were  wandering  in  the  dark,  will  not  be 
spurned  by  ages  in  which  moral  idealism 
shall  count  more  than  materialistic  gratifi- 
cation. 

The  campaign  of  slander  and  misrepresen- 
tation waged  against  the  loved  and  venerable 
founder  of  Christian  Science  has  happily 
failed  in  its  ignoble  purpose.  Moreover,  no 
fact  is  better  demonstrated  by  the  history  of 
religious  and  moral  advance  than  that  it  is 
the  word  rather  than  the  instrument  that 
voices  the  word  that  concerns  the  oncoming 
ages.  The  world  cares  little  for  the  slander, 
calumny  or  criticisms  that  were  rife  in  the 
days  when  her  prophets  and  moral  leaders 
lived,  nor  yet  for  any  physical  or  mental  limi- 
tations that  might  have  marked  these  leaders. 
The  question  the  world  will  insist  upon  is 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

whether  the  message  is  vitally  and  helpfully 
true;  and  if  so,  the  generations  that  are  to 
come  will  turn  in  disgust  from  the  carping  of 
the  critics  against  the  voice  that  has  pro- 
claimed the  helpful  truth  to  that  which  is 
redemptive,  vitalizing  and  helpful  in  the  mes- 
sage. Every  new  religious  conception  or 
new  interpretation  of  religion  has  met  with 
the  same  bitter  opposition  we  find  opposing 
this  latest  religious  interpretation.  Always 
has  the  old  order  attempted  to  suppress  the 
new  voice  of  protest  and  to  discredit  the  mes- 
sage. The  wise  counsel  of  the  great  Jewish 
Rabbi  Gamaliel,  uttered  when  the  Jews 
sought  to  crush  out  the  early  Christian 
church,  is  as  applicable  today  as  of  old,  but 
unhappily  it  is  as  little  heeded  as  it  was  in  the 
earlier  day. 


I 

CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  AS  A  RELIGION 


CHAPTER  I 

CHRIST,  THE  SICK  AND  MODERN  CHRISTIANITY 

JECENTLY  a  number  of  leading 
monthly  and  daily  journals  have 
devoted  much  space  to  the  work 
of  some  well-known  clergymen 
in  Boston  and  Chicago  in  estabHshing  medi- 
co-religious dispensaries  in  connection  with 
their  churches.  Rev.  Elwood  Worcester  and 
his  associate,  Rev.  Samuel  McComb  of  Em- 
manuel Episcopal  Church  of  Boston,  and  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Fallows,  Bishop  of  the  Re- 
formed Episcopal  Church  of  Chicago,  are 
the  leading  ministers  engaged  in  the  present 
attempt  to  harness  medicine  and  theology  in 
the  same  team.  All  these  gentlemen  have 
been  at  pains  to  explain  their  method  of 
work,  which  has  also  been  favorably  pre- 
sented by  a  leading  Boston  regular  physician, 
Dr.  Richard  C.  Cabot.  In  every  explanation 
of  their  attempt  to  heal  the  sick  by  these 
leading  representatives  of  orthodox  Chris- 
tianty,  the  clergymen  and  their  friends  have 


4  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

been  at  great  pains  to  make  clear  the  fact 
that  they  accept  the  position  which  the  medi- 
cal doctors  are  tardily  admitting — namely, 
that  a  certain  number  of  functional  diseases 
may  be  cured  by  suggestion,  but  that  the 
methods  of  materia  medica  should  be  relied 
on  in  all  cases  of  organic  disorders.  And 
yet,  singularly  enough,  all  these  priests  be- 
long to  orthodox  church  fellowships  whose 
historic  attitude  has  been  very  clear  in  main- 
taining the  inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures  and 
the  Divinity  of  Christ.  Hence  the  refusal  to 
accept  the  Bible  teachings  in  regard  to  the 
potential  healing  of  "all  manner  of  disease" 
by  the  realization  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
spiritual  over  all  material  limitations  and  the 
substitution  of  a  theory  of  the  possible  cure 
of  a  few  diseases  in  which  mental  suggestion 
is  the  chief  therapeutic  agent,  throws  into 
bold  relief  the  practical  repudiation  of  the 
position  so  strenuously  maintained  by  the 
churches  to  which  they  belong.  For  when 
it  is  remembered  that  all  the  great  orthodox 
churches  hold  to  the  doctrine  of  the  plenary 
inspiration  of  the  New  Testament;  that  not 
only  their  millions  unquestioningly  accept 
this,  but  that  it  is  in  accordance  with  the 
creeds  and  the  historic  position  of  all  these 


AS    A   RELIGION  5 

churches;  when  we  further  remember  that 
the  churches  also  hold  that  Christ  is  the  very 
Son  of  God,  never  having  a  human  father; 
that  He  is  the  second  person  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  the  position  so  painstakingly  taken 
by  these  orthodox  clergymen  to  show  that 
they  do  not  believe  in  attempting  to  cure  any 
disease  unless  a  medical  doctor  has  declared 
that    the    patient    has    no    organic    trouble, 
serves  to  emphasize  in  a  startling  manner  the 
fact  that  modern  orthodox  Christians  refuse 
to  accept  certain  things  which,  if  their  posi- 
tion in  regard  to  the  inerrancy  of  the  New 
Testament  and  the  Divinity  of  Christ  be  true, 
must  be  accepted  without  question  as  binding 
on  Christians — certain  facts  that  it  is  infidel- 
ity to  the  teachings  of  the  Nazarene  to  deny. 
Not  in  years  has  the  illogical  and  untenable 
position  of  the  great  orthodox  faiths  which 
hold  to  the  dogma  of  the  Trinity  and  the 
plenary   inspiration   of   the    Scriptures   been 
thrown  into  such  bold  and  startling  relief  as 
since  the  general  agitation  made  by  the  advo- 
cates of  the  new  union  of  clergymen  and  phy- 
sicians in  their  effort  to  check  the  growth  of 
Christian  Science  by  religio-medical  substitu- 
tion for  the  position  taken  by  Jesus  and  the 
Primitive    Church    and    adhered    to    by   the 
Christian  Scientists. 


6  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

By  this  we  do  not  wish  to  imply  that 
Doctors  Worcester  and  McComb  and  Bishop 
Fallows  are  sinners  above  others  in  this  re- 
spect ;  but  certain  it  is  that  their  new  religio- 
medical  work  and  the  explanation  of  their 
position  have  emphasized  the  fact  that  the 
great  orthodox  churches  whose  millions  of 
adherents  would  drive  from  the  pulpits 
clergymen  who  had  the  temerity  to  deny  the 
inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures,  do  not  beUeve 
the  very  things  they  claim  to  be  the  Divine 
Word  of  God. 

These  strictures  do  not  apply  to  the  Uni- 
tarians or  to  the  comparatively  few  liberal 
religious  scholars  whose  research  into  the 
genesis  of  the  New  Testament  writing  has 
led  them  to  reject  the  theory  of  the  plenary 
inspiration  of  the  Bible  and  to  deny  the  mir- 
aculous conception  and  certain  other  parts  of 
the  New  Testament.  These  persons  may 
take  the  stand  assumed  by  these  clergymen 
to  whom  we  have  referred  and  be  consistent. 

But  when  we  confront  the  great  orthodox 
religious  world,  we  find  ourselves  in  the 
presence  of  dogmas  that  change  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  case.  The  creeds  or  beliefs  of 
every  one  of  the  great  Trinitarian  churches, 
whether  Roman  CathoHc,  or  Protestant,  hold 


AS   A    RELIGION  7 

that  Jesus  was  the  very  Son  of  God,  having 
no  human  father ;  that  he  is  the  second  per- 
son of  the  to  many  incomprehensible  Trin- 
ity; that  He  is  divine — in  fact,  Deity. 
Furthermore,  the  great  orthodox  Christian 
churches  beheve  in  the  inerrancy  of  the 
Scriptures.  They  accept  the  miraculous  con- 
ception and  the  miracles  as  truths  whose 
literal  verity  is  not  to  be  questioned.  While 
it  follows  as  a  necessary  and  inescapable 
sequence  to  the  dogma  of  the  Trinity  and 
the  inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures,  that  the 
words  of  Jesus  must  be  accepted  as  the  utter- 
ances of  Deity,  and,  of  course,  as  absolutely 
binding  on  those  who  accept  Him  as  God. 

Now  with  these  facts  in  mind,  about  which 
there  is  no  controversy,  let  us  look  at  the 
teachings  of  the  Great  Nazarene  in  regard 
to  life  and  death,  sickness  and  health,  and 
their  necessary  implications  as  to  the  su- 
premacy of  the  spiritual  over  the  physical. 

Jesus,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the 
authors  of  the  Gospels,  made  no  distinction 
between  functional  and  organic  diseases.  In- 
deed, no  fact  is  clearer  than  that  to  Him  all 
idea  of  physical  causation  was  subordinate 
to  the  idea  of  spiritual  supremacy.  He  made 
no  class  distinctions,  such  as  those  in  the 


8  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

orthodox  churches  are  today  making  in  their 
attempt  to  cure  disease  in  what  they  claim  to 
be  the  Primitive  Christian  way.  To  Him  the 
organic  disease  was  no  less  amenable  to  cure 
through  spiritual  recognition  of  man's  one- 
ness with  God  and  the  dominion  which  He 
beheved  to  be  resident  in  the  children  of  the 
All- Father  who  had  been  created  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God,  when  they  recognized 
or  realized  their  own  divine  nature  and  their 
oneness  with  God,  than  were  functional  dis- 
orders. Leprosy,  congenital  bhndness  and 
other  diseases  that  by  no  stretch  of  the  im- 
agination could  be  called  "merely  functional," 
as  well  as  the  raising  of  those  pronounced 
by  the  physicians  dead.  Thus  we  find  that 
the  ruler's  daughter  who  had  been  laid  out  in 
death,  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain  who  was 
being  borne  to  the  cemetery,  and  Lazarus 
who  had  been  three  days  in  the  grave,  re- 
sponded as  readily  to  the  prayer  of  faith  and 
understanding  as  did  those  afflicted  with 
palsy,  lameness  and  disorders  that  might  be 
classed  as  functional. 

If  in  the  presence  of  these  three  cases  of 
death  we  are  met  with  the  objection  that  they 
were  merely  instances  of  suspended  anima- 
tion, trance  or  pseudo-death ;  that  the  doctors 


AS   A   RELIGION  9 

had  blundered  and  pronounced  dead  and  the 
undertakers  were  burying  or  had  buried  the 
living;  that  these  instances  were  merely  the 
same  mistakes  that  physicians  are  liable  to 
make,  the  answer  is  that  we  are  considering 
this  question  now  only  from  the  view-point 
of  orthodox  Christianity;  so  such  excuses 
are  no  excuses,  for  the  supposed  inspired 
writers  declared  the  persons  to  have  died, 
and  in  the  case  of  Lazarus  Jesus  Himself 
declares  that  he  was  dead. 

In  addition  to  the  many  detailed  cures,  a 
few  of  which  have  just  been  cited  and  to 
which  we  might  add  many  more,  such  as  the 
cure  of  the  woman  who  had  had  an  issue  of 
blood  for  twelve  years,  and  the  healing  of  the 
ear  of  the  servant  of  the  high  priest,  which 
Peter  had  impulsively  cut  off,  we  have  cita- 
tions showing  the  sweeping  character  of  the 
cures  performed  by  Jesus,  as  for  example 
when  on  one  occasion  we  are  told: 

"And  great  multitudes  came  unto  Him, 
having  with  them  those  that  were  lame,  blind, 
dumb,  maimed,  and  many  others,  and  cast 
them  down  at  Jesus'  feet;  and  He  healed 
them."* 

One   step   further.     Jesus  was,   according 

*Matthew  15:  80 


lo  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

to  the  Gospels,  crucified,  pierced  in  the  side, 
buried,  and  on  the  third  day  rose  from  the 
dead.  No  functional  screen  will  serve  here 
to  shelter  those  who  hold  to  the  inerrancy 
of  the  Scriptures.  What  then?  We  are  told 
that  Jesus  was  a  very  God ;  He  was  the  Lord 
of  Life  and  health,  and  we  must  not  question 
what  He  said  or  did,  but  that  He  did  things 
which  it  was  and  is  impossible  for  His  dis- 
ciples to  do.  Very  well.  Let  us  advance  an- 
other step.  Jesus,  we  are  told,  sent  out  His 
twelve  chosen  students  or  apostles  and  com- 
manded them  to  "heal  all  manner  of  sickness 
and  all  manner  of  disease."* 

Nor  did  He  stop  here.  He  further  com- 
manded them  to  "heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the 
lepers,  raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils. "t  And 
the  apostles  did  as  commanded. 

Did  these  grave  organic  and  so-called  in- 
curable diseases,  Hke  leprosy,  yield  to  the 
prayer  of  understanding?  Luke  tells  us  that 
"they  went  through  the  towns,  preaching  the 
gospel,  and  healing  everywhere.^J 

But  we  are  now  told  that  the  apostles  were 
peculiarly  set  apart  by  Christ  for  their  special 
work  of  furthering  His  church  and  being  His 
repersentatives  when  He  left.     To  them  was 

*Matthew  10 :  1  tMatthew  10 :  8         tLuke  0 :  6 


AS   A   RELIGION  ii 

given   special  power.     This  brings  us  to  a 
third  consideration. 

Jesus  did  not  seem  to  believe  that  any- 
special  gift  of  healing,  such  as  cleansing  the 
lepers  and  even  raising  the  dead,  was  con- 
fined to  Him  or  to  His  twelve  apostles.  In 
fact,  there  is  nothing  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
more  explicit  than  that  the  gift  of  healing 
was  to  be  a  mark  of  discipleship,  and  we  are 
taught  clearly  His  idea  that  God  was  a  God 
of  the  living  and  not  of  the  dead;  that  the 
Lord  of  Life  was  all-powerful  and  that  it  was 
not  His  will  that  any  should  suffer;  that  the 
All-Father  was  omnipotent,  omniscient  om- 
nipresent, all  in  all,  and  that  those  who  came 
en  rapport  with  Him,  who  learned  to  under- 
stand or  realize  their  sonship  with  the  God  of 
whom  they  were  the  reflection  or  image, 
could  accomplish  all  things  and  gain  what- 
soever they  asked,  so  long  as  their  hearts 
were  pure  and  they  kept  en  rapport  with  the 
Divine  life  or  the  great  Source  or  reservoir 
of  Life  and  Love.  For  we  are  told  that  after 
this  Jesus  sent  out  other  seventy  and  com- 
manded them,  when  they  entered  a  town,  to 
"heal  the  sick  that  are  therein."*  Moreover, 
the  seventy  appear  to  have  been  quite  as 

*Luke  10:  9 


12  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

successful  as  the  twelve  apostles,  for  we  are 
told  that  "the  seventy"  returned  again  with 
joy,  saying,  Lord,  even  the  devils  are  subject 
unto  us  through  thy  name."* 

Nor  will  it  do  to  attempt  to  juggle  with  the 
facts  by  claiming  that  Christ  only  delegated 
this  power  to  those  with  Him  during  His 
earthly  ministry;  for  His  teachings  and  the 
subsequent  New  Testament  narratives  and 
injunctions,  as  well  as  the  chronicles  of  the 
early  Church,  are  all  against  this  position. 
Moreover,  what  words  in  the  Bible  are 
plainer  or  more  explicit  than  these  from 
Mark,  which  it  is  represented  were  the  final 
injunction  of  Christ  after  His  resurrection 
and  immediately  before  His  ascension :  "Go 
yet  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature.  .  .  .  And  these  signs 
shall  follow  them  that  beHeve:  In  my  name 
shall  they  cast  out  devils;  they  shall  speak 
with  new  tongues.  They  shall  take  up  ser- 
pents ;  and  if  they  drink  any  deadly  thing,  it 
shall  not  hurt  them ;  they  shall  lay  hands  on 
the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover.^f 

Again,  Christ's  teachings  in  regard  to 
prayer  are  equally  expHcit  and  reveal  the 
same  overmastering  belief  or  conviction  on 

*Luke  lO!:  17  tMark  16:  15.  17.  18 


AS   A   RELIGION  13 

His  part  that  those  who  came  en  rapport  with 
the  Divine  Life,  with  the  spiritual  dynamo  of 
the  universe  which  we  call  God,  became  so 
spiritually  positive  that  their  supremacy  over 
material  limitations  was  absolute.  On  one 
occasion  He  said:  "Therefore  I  say  unto 
you,  What  things  soever  ye  desire,  when  ye 
pray,  believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and  ye 
shall  have  them."* 

Again  He  says:  "Ask,  and  it  shall  be 
given  you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock, 
and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.^f 

The  early  Church  history  as  chronicled  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  almost  as  rich  in 
instances  of  cures  of  almost  all  manner  of 
diseases,  and  even  of  the  raising  of  the  dead, 
as  is  the  story  of  the  life  of  Christ  and  His 
earthly  ministry.  Thus  we  find,  for  example, 
the  case  of  the  congenital  cripple  who  had 
never  been  able  to  walk  a  step  and  who  was 
daily  borne  to  the  Gate  Beautiful  of  the  Tem- 
ple to  ask  alms,  and  whom  Peter  instantly 
cured  through  a  reaHzation  of  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  touching  the  supremacy  of  the  spir- 
itual ;t  the  case  of  Aeneas,  instantly  cured  by 
Peter  after  he  had  been  bed-ridden  for  eight 
years  with  palsy  ;§  and  the  still  more    won- 

*Mark  11 :  24       tMatthew  7 :  7       tActs  3 :  6-8       §Acts  9 :  3S,  84 


14  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

derful  case  of  Tabitha,  or  Dorcas,  who  had 
died  and  had  been  laid  out  in  the  upper 
chamber  ready  for  burial,  when  it  occurred  to 
her  friends  to  notify  the  apostle  Peter,  who 
immediately  repaired  to  the  house  of  mourn- 
ing, and  in  answer  to  his  prayer  she  was  re- 
stored whole  and  well  to  her  friends.* 

Again,  in  the  case  of  the  man  at  Lystra, 
another  congenital  cripple,  we  have  the  de- 
scription of  a  life  that  had  never  known  what 
it  was  to  walk,  instantly,  in  obedience  to  the 
august  declaration  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  leap- 
ing and  walking,  to  the  amazement  of  the 
people,  who  declared  in  their  wonder  that 
the  gods  had  come  down  in  the  likeness  of 
men.f 

During  the  ministry  of  Paul  in  Asia,  as  he 
journeyed  from  city  to  city,  his  demonstra- 
tions of  the  spiritual  power  over  disease 
everywhere  enabled  him  quickly  to  spread 
the  Gospel.  He  is  related  to  hav€  cured  vari- 
ous diseases,  and  even  insanity,  by  absent 
treatments.^  The  young  man  Eutychus,  who 
fell  from  the  third  loft  and  was  taken  up  dead, 
it  is  reported,  was  restored  by  the  Apostle 
Paul.§ 

The  demonstration  of  the  power  of  the 

*Acta  9 :  S6.  39. 41       tActs  14 :  8-10       t Acts  19 :  12       §Act8  20 :  9 


AS    A    RELIGION  15 

apostle's  thought  over  the  venom  of  the 
viper  is  also  described  in  the  story  of  Paul 
gathering  the  bundle  of  sticks  when  a  viper 
came  out  and  fastened  on  his  hand,  but  he 
shook  it  off  into  the  fire  and  felt  no  harm; 
and  when  the  natives  beheld  that  instead  of 
his  body  swelling  and  his  falling  down  dead, 
he  suffered  no  harm,  they  beUeved  him  to  be 
a  god.*  And  this  narration  is  followed  by 
the  account  of  the  cure  of  the  father  of  Pub- 
lius,  the  chief  man  of  the  island,  who  was 
stricken  with  bloody  flux.f 

The  Apostle  James  makes  the  positive  and 
unequivocal  declaration  that  "the  prayer  of 
faith  shall  save  the  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall 
raise  him  up."J  Here,  it  will  be  noted  that 
the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual  over  the 
material  limitations  is  as  clearly  stated  as  it 
was  in  the  passage  from  Mark,  where  Christ 
is  represented  as  commanding  His  disciples 
to  accompany  their  preaching  with  the  heal- 
ing of  the  sick,  and  where  He  distinctly  de- 
clares that  the  sign  of  discipleship  will  be  the 
power  to  demonstrate  the  supremacy  of 
health  over  disease  by  the  appeal  from  mat- 
ter to  the  spirit  or  to  God. 

From  what  we  find  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 

*Acts  28:  »-6  tActs  28 :  8, 9  tJames  5  :  15 


i6  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

ties  and  in  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  from  other  chronicles  relating  to 
the  Primitive  Church  before  it  became  cor- 
rupted, it  is  apparent  that  the  apostles,  the 
early  preachers  and  the  early  Christians  all 
alike  took  Jesus  seriously  and  did  precisely 
what  He  so  solemnly  commanded,  and  that 
their  power  was  no  less  potent  or  pronounced 
than  Jesus'.  Indeed,  to  those  who  beHeve 
in  the  inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures  and  who 
hold  that  Jesus  was  divine  and  therefore  not 
a  victim  of  illusion,  it  would  seem  that  there 
is  no  escaping  the  conclusion  that  Christ 
held  that  diseases  of  all  kinds,  organic  no 
less  than  functional,  were  absolutely  subor- 
dinate to  spiritual  domination.  He  knew  no 
distinction  between  functional  and  organic  in 
the  treatment  of  disease.  He  did  not  believe, 
as  we  have  seen,  that  cures  through  the 
recognition  of  what  He  believed  to  be  the 
omnipotent  power  of  a  God  of  Love,  were 
limited  to  any  kind  of  disease.  Furthermore, 
He  did  not  believe  that  the  power  to  cure 
disease  or  to  make  man  recognize  his  spir- 
itual supremacy  or  essential  divinity,  was 
owing  to  any  peculiar  power  resident  in  Him- 
self. Indeed,  He  expected  greater  things 
from  His  disciples,  if  they  remained  faithful 


AS   A   RELIGION  17 

to  His  teachings  and  to  the  recognition  of 
the  spiritual  law  which  He  held  to  be  su- 
preme. For  He  says  on  one  occasion :  "He 
that  beheveth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  also;  and  greater  works  than 
these  shall  he  do."*  He  believed  that  the 
more  men  came  en  rapport  with  Deity  or  in 
at-one-ment  with  God,  the  greater  would  be 
the  recognition  of  their  rightful  power  or  the 
dominion  which  the  Creator  had  given  to 
man,  and  that  with  that  recognition  would 
come  more  and  more  complete  supremacy 
over  all  physical  conditions.  Christ  never 
seemed  conscious  of  any  limiting  laws  which 
prevented  victory,  save  the  lack  of  a  realiz- 
ing sense  of  God's  power  or  dominion,  given 
to  His  children  when  He  created  them  in  His 
image  and  likeness.  Only  the  unbeHef  in 
spiritual  supremacy,  the  materialistic  thought 
that  environed  Him,  and  the  complete 
dominance  of  sense  perception  that  He  en- 
countered on  every  hand  were  regarded 
by  Christ  as  obstacles  to  the  manifesta- 
tion of  victory  over  all  forms  of  disease 
and  unhappy  conditions.  That  He  Him- 
self felt  the  effect  of  this  unbeHef  born  of 
materialism,  and  the  necessity  of  His  at  times 

*John  14:  12 


i8  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

getting  away  from  its  deadly  atmosphere,  is 
abundantly  indicated  in  the  Gospels.  Thus 
we  find  that  in  certain  places  Christ  could  do 
no  mighty  works  because  of  the  unbelief  of 
the  people. 

Again,  how  real  must  have  been  His  reali- 
zation of  the  need  of  spiritual  strength  which 
led  Him  to  withdraw  at  night  alone  into  the 
mountains  to  pray — that  is,  to  commune  with 
the  Infinite  Father  and  realize  His  oneness 
with  God. 

On  one  occasion  the  disciples  could  not 
cure  a  case  of  so-called  obsession,  or  what 
modern  physicians  would  term  insanity  in  a 
violent  form.  Christ  promptly  cured  the 
case,  and  in  answer  to  the  disciples'  question 
as  to  the  reason  why  they  were  unable  to 
effect  the  cure,  Jesus  did  not  claim  any  spe- 
cial power  resident  in  Himself,  but  intimat- 
ed that  He  had  simply  gained  greater  power, 
through  spiritual  absorption  and  prayer,  than 
they  possessed;  that  is,  that  through  prayer 
He  had  come  more  completely  en  rapport 
with  the  divine  or  spiritual  reservoir  of  Life 
and  Love.  These  and  other  passages  that 
might  be  cited  prove  clearly  that  in  Christ's 
consciousness  there  was  no  question  but  what 
through  hoHness    and    spiritual    supremacy 


AS   A   RELIGION  19 

man  could  come  so  into  oneness  with  God  as 
to  reflect  the  supreme  spiritual  truth  and 
overcome  inharmony,  disease  and  unhappy 
conditions  incident  to  the  material  life. 

Not  only  do  the  New  Testament  records 
report  the  astonishing  results  following  the 
mission  of  the  twelve  and  later  that  of  the 
seventy,  in  healing  all  manner  of  disease  dur- 
ing Jesus'  personal  ministration,  but  subse- 
quent narrations,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  indicate  clearly  that  Jesus 
not  only  meant  His  disciples  to  continue  the 
healing,  but  that  the  early  church  did  not 
regard  the  Master's  solemn  declaration  as 
either  visionary  or  untruthful,  when  He  de- 
clared that  greater  works  than  He  had  done 
should  be  done  by  them  after  His  departure. 
Of  these  facts  not  only  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  give  ample  and  detailed  evidence, 
but  the  early  church  fathers  also  clearly  show 
in  their  writings  that  for  some  hundreds  of 
years  the  healing  of  the  sick  was  practiced 
in  the  church.  Among  those  who  record  this 
fact  or  who  discuss  and  refer  to  it  are  Justin 
Martyr,  Irenaeus,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Augus- 
tine, St.  Jerome,  St.  Cyprian,  and  the  great 
church  writer  and  mystic,  Origen.* 

*See  Chapter  II  for  quotations  from  the  fathers. 


20  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

There  is  no  shadow  of  doubt  but  that  the 
apostles,  the  early  disciples  and  the  Primitive 
Church,  before  it  became  rich,  worldly  and 
corrupt,  took  Jesus  seriously  and  did  prac- 
tice healing  in  such  a  manner  as  to  attract 
the  attention  and  win  the  ear  of  great  num- 
bers who  otherwise  would  have  been  indif- 
ferent or  hostile  to  the  new  gospel. 

Dr.  McComb  in  a  contribution  to  The 
Century  referred  somewhat  slightingly  to 
those  who  are  to-day  treating  disease  as 
Jesus,  His  apostles  and  the  early  Christians 
are  represented  as  doing,  by  referring  to  their 
method  as  one  "  in  which  men  and  women 
are  treated  as  if  they  were  disembodied 
spirits."  "We  distinguish,"  he  continued,  re- 
ferring to  himself  and  his  theological  asso- 
ciates, "  with  science,  between  'organic'  and 
'functional'  disorders,  and  we  believe  that 
the  legitimate  sphere  for  moral  and  psychical 
methods  is  that  of  functional  and  not  or- 
ganic." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester,  rector  of  Em- 
manuel Church  and  head  of  the  medico-re- 
ligious dispensary  to  which  we  have  referred, 
shows  what  the  modern  orthodox  churches, 
that  have  been  forced  to  take  notice  of  the 
amazing  growth   of  Christian   Science,   due 


AS   A   RELIGION  21 

largely  to  the  thousands  of  cures  effected 
after  physicians  had  passed  the  death  sen- 
tence on  the  patients,  offer  in  Heu  of  the  clear, 
positive  and  direct  teachings  of  Jesus  and 
their  result  in  His  ministry  and  in  the  early 
church,  if  orthodox  Christianity  is  correct  in 
regard  to  the  inerrancy  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Dr.  Worcester  in  the  New  York 
Times  recently  said  in  referring  to  their 
work : 

"  By  turning  over  to  doctors  those  persons 
who  require  medical  treatment  we  have  not 
only  lost  no  patients,  but  almost  all  of  those 
whom  we  have  treated  ourselves  have  been 
greatly  benefited,  and  many  have  recovered 
entirely. 

"  The  functional  nervous  disorders  treated 
by  us  at  Emmanuel  Church  include  neuras- 
thenia, hysteria,  psychathenia,  mild  melan- 
cholia, fixed  ideas,  phobias,  and  bad  habits. 

"  One  important  part  of  our  work  has  been 
the  treatment  of  alcoholism  both  in  men  and 
women;  also  drug  habits,  sexual  perversion, 
etc.  " 

Rev.  Samuel  Fallows  of  the  Reformed 
Episcopal  Church  is  another  orthodox 
clergyman  who  has  come  into  prominence 
by  an  effort  to  mix  Christian  healing  with 


22  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

modern  medical  practice.     In  the  New  York 
Herald   Rev.  Dr.  Fallows  recently  said: 

"  My  treatment  is  no  secret. 

"  I  first  employ  the  psychic  method  —  I 
give  human  suggestions  and  persuasion.  I 
appeal  to  the  reason,  and  thus  encourage  the 
troubled  and  hopeless.  I  iterate  and  reiter- 
ate certain  common-sense  ideas,  until  the 
sub-consciousness  of  the  individual  before 
me  is  reached. 

"  I  used  the  best  of  Christian  Science  and 
the  best  of  materia  medica.  .  .  Linking 
the  curative  principle  included  in  Christ's 
teachings  with  the  best  in  medicine,  I  think 
I  have  found  the  most  hopeful  of  all  reme- 
dies, for  hope  is  revived  and  confidence 
restored." 

Now  certain  facts  in  this  connection  are 
worthy  of  consideration.  The  orthodox 
church  as  such  upholds  the  inerrancy  of  the 
New  Testament  and  claims  that  Christ  was 
God  in  human  form;  yet  its  practice  clearly 
proves  that  it  either  does  not  believe  that 
Christ  spake  wisely  or  truthfully  when  He 
taught  and  commanded  His  disciples  to  cure 
''the  lepers"  and  "all  manner  of  disease,"  or 
else  it  does  not  believe  in  the  inerrancy  of 
the  Scriptures. 


AS   A   RELIGION  23 

If  these  men  will  come  out  frankly  and 
take  the  position  of  the  Unitarians  or  that  of 
the  liberal  religious  leaders  who  reject  the 
doctrine  of  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  if  they  will  say  to  the  world  that 
they  do  not  believe  the  alleged  miracles  were 
ever  wrought,  upon  which  the  Christian 
faith  has  been  so  largely  nourished  through 
the  ages,  then  their  stand  will  be  consistent. 
But  all  those  churches  which  hold  to  the 
divinity  of  Christ  and  the  inerrancy  of  the 
Scriptures,  an4  refuse  to  accept  the  teach- 
ings of  the  New  Testament  in  regard  to  the 
cure  of  disease  as  taught  by  Jesus,  are  dis- 
crediting Christ  and  His  claims  by  their 
recreancy  in  regard  to  these  things. 

One  of  the  many  eulogistic  articles  that 
have  been  widely  circulated  concerning  the 
work  of  Emmanuel  Church  appeared  in  The 
Outlook.  It  was  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Rich- 
ard C.  Cabot,  the  well-known  Boston  physi- 
cian. At  the  outset  the  good  doctor  says 
something  that  is  eloquently  suggestive  as  to 
the  reason  that  has  led  to  this  sudden  har- 
nessing together  of  religion  and  medicine  by 
the  two  professions  that  for  over  twenty 
years  have  ridiculed  Christian  Science  as 
crazy  idealism.     He  says:  "Partly  because 


24  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

the  church  has  lost  its  interest  in  the  human 
body,  and  partly  because  the  doctors  have 
lost  their  interest  in  everything  else,  comes 
Christian  Science,  and  triumphs." 

Here  we  have  the  secret  of  this  belated 
religio-medical  activity.  Dr.  Cabot  points 
out  the  fact  that :  "No  one  can  be  treated  at 
Emmanuel  Church  without  the  diagnosis  and 
approval  of  a  physician.  Each  patient  brings 
a  letter  from  his  physician,  or,  if  he  has  none, 
is  referred  for  examination  to  one  of  the 
physicians  of  the  parish,  who  have  agreed  to 
examine,  free  of  charge,  all  who  apply  for  ad- 
mission to  the  Health  Class.  If  the  patient 
is  found  to  have  no  organic  disease  and  to 
be  otherwise  suitable  for  psychical  treatment, 
he  is  then  taken  in  charge  by  Dr.  Worcester, 
Dr.  McComb,  or  one  of  their  assistants." 

Of  the  remedial  means  resorted  to,  "sug- 
gestion," he  observes,  "is  the  one  most  used." 

Dr.  Cabot  further  states  that  he  has  studied 
the  records  of  the  cases  treated  between 
March,  1907,  and  November  of  the  same 
year,  a  period  of  seven  months.  He  found 
that  there  had  been  178  cases  taken.  All,  of 
course,  were  persons  whom  the  physicians 
had  declared  to  be  affected  merely  with  func- 
tional disorders.     Of  this  number,  82  were 


AS   A   RELIGION  25 

treated  for  neurasthenia;  24  for  insanity;  18 
for  fears  and  fixed  ideas;  22  for  alcoholism; 
10  for  sexual  neuroses ;  5  for  hysteria ;  and 
17  miscellaneous.  Of  this  number,  55  ap- 
pear to  have  dropped  out  of  sight,  as  the  re- 
ports show  that  the  results  of  the  treatment 
in  these  cases  are  unknown.  Most  of  them 
probably  received  little  or  no  benefit,  or  they 
would  most  likely  have  reported  results. 
Forty-eight  were  known  not  to  have  been 
improved.  Twenty-eight  reported  slight  im- 
provement, and  47  were  much  improved. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  103  were  either  not 
improved  at  all  or  did  not  see  fit  to  report 
results ;  28  were  but  slightly  helped,  making 
a  total  of  131 ;  while  47  were  much  improved. 
We  are  glad  to  know  that  Dr.  Cabot  and  the 
reverend  gentlemen  who  are  at  the  head  of 
this  movement  feel  much  encouraged  at  the 
above  results  following  these  sifted  cases  of 
persons  who  were  only  suffering  from  func- 
tional diseases,  although  to  us  the  results 
seem  surprisingly  meager.  From  our  obser- 
vations we  are  thoroughly  convinced  that  if 
Christian  Science  treatment  of  the  sick  had 
not  been  far  more  successful,  this  church 
would  never  have  made  such  surprising  and 
steady  gain  in  America;  yet  it  must  be  re- 


26  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

membered  that  Christian  Scientists  take 
Jesus'  words  and  the  statements  given  in  the 
Bible  in  regard  to  disease,  quite  seriously. 
They  believe  He  was  neither  untruthful  nor 
ignorant ;  that  He  meant  what  He  said  when 
He  declared  that  the  healing  of  the  sick  in 
His  name  was  one  of  the  signs  that  marked 
His  discipleship.  They  believe  the  Bible 
record  of  the  cures  made  by  Jesus,  the  apos- 
tles, the  seventy  and  the  early  Christians 
after  Christ,  to  be  historical  verities  which 
prove  the  truth  of  Jesus^  teachings  in  regard 
to  sickness.  And  to  the  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  persons  who  have  been  cured 
after  regular  physicians  have  failed  to  benefit 
them,  and  in  numbers  of  cases  after  the  regu- 
lar doctor  had  pronounced  a  death  sentence 
on  them,  their  cures,  together  with  the  new 
exalted  faith  and  moral  enthusiasm  that  they 
have  derived  from  the  new  understanding  of 
the  Christ  truth,  have  led  to  a  belief  that  the 
founder  of  Christian  Science  has  rediscovered 
the  truth  which  Jesus  taught,  lived,  practiced, 
and  which  was  a  priceless  heritage  of  the 
church  before  the  days  of  Constantine, — a 
heritage  that  largely  explains  th«  rapid  spread 
of  primitive  Christianity. 

But  to  return  to  the  central  thought  of  this 


AS   A   RELIGION  27 

paper.  Do  the  millions  of  orthodox  Chris- 
tians who  accept  plenary  inspiration  and  the 
Divinity  of  Christ,  and  do  the  ministers  of 
the  churches  whose  creeds  teach  these  things, 
carry  the  sign  that  Jesus  declared  should 
prove  them  His  disciples?  Do  they  attempt 
to  do  as  He  solemnly  commanded  them  to 
do  in  the  presence  of  sickness?  There  can 
be  but  one  truthful  answer  to  this  question. 
Even  those  who  are  driven  by  the  rapid 
growth  of  Christian  Science  to  do  something, 
adopt  a  method  that  frankly  discredits  Jesus' 
theory  and  claim  and  the  results  that  are  said 
to  have  followed  His  treatment  and  that  of 
His  disciples.  Jesus  commanded  the  disciples 
to  heal  "all  manner  of  disease,"  to  "cleanse 
the  lepers"  and  raise  the  dead;  and  if  the 
Bible  report  is  true,  the  Nazarene  and  His 
disciples  during  the  life  of  Christ  on  earth 
and  after  the  establishment  of  the  Christian 
Church,  did  these  things.  Organic  disease 
was  as  quickly  and  successfully  met  as  were 
functional  disorders,  if  the  records  of  the  New 
Testament  are  trustworthy,  and  if  the  Bible, 
as  the  great  orthodox  world  claims,  is  iner- 
rant,  there  can  be  no  question  on  this  point. 
Hence  is  it  not  perfectly  clear  that  the  atti- 
tude of  orthodox  Christianity  to-day  in  re- 


28  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

gard  to  the  treatment  of  the  sick  indicates 
all  but  universal  infidelity  to  the  long-cher- 
ished and  defended  theological  position  of 
the  orthodox  churches  touching  plenary  in- 
spiration and  the  Divinity  of  Christ?  And  if 
the  Bible  is  to  be  taken  as  the  very  Word  of 
God,  it  necessarily  must  be  true.  If  Christ 
is  the  very  Son  of  God,  He  would  not  have 
been  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  life.  This,  it 
seems,  ought  to  be  a  very  solemn  thought 
for  the  millions  who  think  they  believe  in  the 
inerrancy  of  the  Bible  and  the  Divinity  of 
Christ.  It  may  also  help  them  to  understand 
one  great  reason  for  the  astonishing  growth 
of  Christian  Science  during  the  last  two 
decades. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   MASTER   NOTE  IN  THE  MESSAGE  OF  CHRIS- 
TIAN  SCIENCE 

"Where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish." 

— Proverbs. 

** Voices  are  crying  from  the  dust  of  Tyre, 
From  Baalbec  and  the  stones  of  Babylon — 
We  raised  our  pillars  upon  Self-Desire, 
And  perished  from  the  large  gaze  of  the  sun. 

"Eternity  was  on  the  pyramid. 

And  immortality  on  Greece  and  Kome ; 
But  in  them  all  the  ancient  Traitor  hid, 
And  so  they  tottered  like  unstable  foam. 


'No  house  can  stand,  no  kingdom  can  endure. 
Built  on  the  crumbling  rock  of  Self -Desire." 

— Edwin  Markham. 


\0  THE  philosophical  student  of 
history,  no  fact  is  more  obvious 
than  that  in  proportion  as  a  civil- 
ization, a  people  or  a  nation  is 
dominated  by  moral  idealism — ^by  the 
vision  that  gives  to  life  a  living  faith,  it 
will  rise,  advance  and  become  inherently 
great.    On  the  other  hand,  in  proportion  as 


30  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

the  eternal  moral  verities  fade  before  interest 
in  and  a  passion  for  the  fleeting  things  of 
sense,  a  civilization  or  people  declines,  al- 
though frequently  to  the  physical  eye  of  the 
casual  observer  the  stricken  victim  of  ma- 
terialism or  sense  domination  appears  to  be 
entering  on  a  period  of  unexampled  glory, 
power  and  greatness,  just  as  one  ignorant  of 
nature's  phenomena  might  easily  imagine  the 
autumnal  burst  of  ephemeral  splendor  to  be  a 
manifestation  of  life  and  health. 

Moral  idealism  nourishes  the  soul  upon  the 
eternal  spiritual  verities.  It  weaves  into  the 
web  and  woof  of  life  honor,  integrity  of 
thought  and  purpose,  a  passion  for  truth,  and 
an  ever-broadening  love.  In  a  word,  it 
speaks  to  the  children  of  men,  awakening 
them  from  their  absorption  in  fleeting  sense 
perceptions  to  a  realization  of  the  eternal 
spiritual  verities,  Truth,  Beauty  and  Good- 
ness, and  thus  brings  them  en  rapport  with 
the  All-Life  and  its  infinite  manifestations; 
with  the  Common  Father  and  His  common 
children. 

The  fate  of  civilizations  and  nations  in  the 
ever-recurring  battle  between  idealism  and 
materialism  is  one  of  the  most  absorbing  and 
suggestive  facts  of  history;  while  there  are 


AS   A   RELIGION  31 

few  pages  in  the  annals  of  the  past  so  inspir- 
ing as  those  which  show  how  great  peoples, 
after  having  yielded  to  the  lure  of  sense  dom- 
ination and  started  upon  the  downward  slope, 
have  been  arrested  and  rejuvenated  by  the 
masterful  appeal  to  the  reason  and  conscience 
side  of  life,  which  has  reawakened  the  moral 
idealism  or  spiritual  enthusiasm  and  faith  in 
the  soul  of  society. 

Our  purpose  in  stating  this  general  pro- 
position as  an  introduction  to  our  considera- 
tion of  the  master  note  in  the  message  of 
Christian  Science,  is  to  impress  upon  the 
reader  the  basic  truth  which  students  of 
human  progress  must  keep  in  mind  if  they 
would  find  the  key  to  great  idealistic  or 
spiritual  movements  of  national  and  civiliza- 
tion-wide significance,  which  exert  a  compell- 
ing influence  over  the  thought  and  life  of 
multitudes  of  highly  intelligent  men  and 
women. 

"To  me  the  most  astounding  historical 
fact  of  the  past  twenty-five  years  is  the  rapid 
growth  of  Christian  Science  in  this  nation, 
and  the  permanent  hold  it  seems  to  have 
taken  on  tens  of  thousands  of  highly  intelli- 
gent and  discriminating  citizens." 

The    speaker    was    a    well-known    writer 


32  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

whose  extensive  travels  had  brought  him  in 
touch  with  the  vital  life  of  the  people  in 
various  parts  of  the  country. 

"The  healing  part  of  the  new  faith,"  he 
continued,  "affords  no  adequate  explanation 
for  this  phenomenon.    It  doubtless  is  largely 
the  means  of  interesting  very  many,  and  per- 
haps the  greater  number  of  those  who  are 
drawn  to  Christian  Science.     Consider  these 
facts :    In   1895   there   was   not   a   Christian 
Science   church  building   to   be   found   any- 
where.     In   a   recent   paper   contributed   to 
The     Contemporary    Review     by  Mr.  Frank 
Podmore,  he  states  that  this  new  religious 
body  'is  represented  at  the  present  time  by 
over  eleven  hundred  churches  or  societies. 
.     .     .     There  are  over  four  thousand  Chris- 
tian   Science    practitioners,   while   no    fewer 
that  440  editions  of      Science     and     Health 
With  Key  to  the  Scriptures  have  been  pub- 
lished, and  upward  of  half  a  million  copies 
sold.'     In  this  country  there  is  to  be  found, 
as  you  know,  a  large  number  of  magnificent 
church  edifices.    Indeed,  the  property  of  this 
religious  body  in  our  country  is  estimated  at 
between  eight  and  ten  million  dollars,  and 
stately  buildings   are  being   erected  all   the 
time.    In  Chicago  alone  there  are  five  beauti- 


AS   A   RELIGION  33 

ful  church  structures,  and  two  congregations 
as  yet  without  their  own  buildings.*  In  Eng- 
land the  movement  has  taken  a  firm  hold  and 
several  fine  edifices  are  owned  by  the  Chris- 
tian Scientists ;  while  its  churches  or  societies 
are  now  to  be  found  in  almost  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

"Now  to  say  that  there  is  no  great  motor 
power  behind  this  new  religious  organization 
save  the  heahng  of  the  sick,  is  absurd;  and 
especially  is  this  apparent  when  one  takes 
into  consideration  the  way  the  faith  domin- 
ates the  ideals  or  moral  impulses  of  its 
disciples.  Nothing  is  more  marked  about  this 
reHgious  teaching  than  the  way  it  seizes  hold 
of  thought  and  imagination,  frequently 
changing  the  whole  course  of  one's  life." 

"That  is  very  true,"  I  repHed.  "I  have 
known  not  a  few  persons  who  were  the  slaves 
of  drink  or  given  over  to  other  forms  of  dis- 
sipation, who  through  Christian  Science  have 
been  lifted  to  a  noble  plane  and  have  become 
active  workers  for  all  that  is  finest  and  truest 
in  life.  Indeed,  my  investigation,  extending 
over  many  years  and  conducted  at  all  times 
with  an  earnest  desire  to  be  impartial  and  un- 
prejudiced, has  fully  convinced  me  that  the 

^At  the  present  time  there  are  nine  congregations  in  Oiicago. 


34  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

great  majority  of  those  who  accept  Christian 
Science  become  changed  persons.  They  are 
cheerful,  optimistic  and  dominated  by  inspir- 
ing and  uplifting  ideals.  They  strive  to  re- 
flect love  and  exhibit  much  of  that  living 
faith  that  marked  the  early  Christian  church." 

"Exactly  so,"  returned  my  friend.  "And  I 
repeat,  the  reason  for  this  phenomenon  is 
a  baffling  mystery  to  me.  If  we  had  here  a 
splendid  ritual  that  appealed  to  the  imagina- 
tion, an  elaborate  and  popular  song  service, 
or  men  of  eloquence  who  could  draw  great 
audiences  and  hold  them  spell-bound,  I  could 
understand  its  success.  But  the  Christian 
Science  service  is  to  me  the  least  calculated 
to  interest  and  appeal  to  the  outsider,  to  'the 
man  on  the  street,'  to  use  the  popular  saying, 
of  any  church  service  with  which  I  am  ac- 
quainted. Now,  what  is  your  explanation  of 
this  mystery?" 

"Its  success,  is  seems  to  me,"  I  replied,  "is 
to  be  found  in  its  meeting  the  heart-hunger 
of  thousands  of  our  people  in  a  satisfying 
way.  The  most  significant  fact  about  this 
religious  message  is  the  power  it  exerts  in 
quickening  the  conscience  or  spiritual  side  of 
life  and  bringing  the  believers  under  the 
compulsion  of  moral  ideahsm.     In  personal 


AS   A   RELIGION  35 

interviews  with  a  great  number  of  Christian 
Scientists  and  in  the  course  of  extended  cor- 
respondence in  which  I  have  sought  for  facts 
and  data  that  would  enable  me  to  com- 
1-etently  and  justly  judge  this  new  religious 
movement,  in  almost  every  instance  the  per- 
sons communicated  with  have  placed  the 
spiritual  awakening  that  has  been  wrought 
through  Christian  Science  as  incomparably 
the  greatest  blessing  that  it  has  brought  into 
their  lives;  although  in  numerous  instances 
these  parties,  who  are  now  in  the  enjoyment 
of  excellent  health,  had  been  doomed  to  early 
death  by  medical  science. 

"Now  let  me  give  you  a  little  incident  that 
will  perhaps  help  you  to  understand  this  mys- 
tery. When  the  poet  Joaquin  Miller  was  last 
in  Boston  he  expressed  the  desire  to  attend 
a  service  at  the  Christian  Science  church. 
He  was  going  to  leave  before  Sunday,  so  the 
only  opportunity  was  the  Wednesday  night 
testimony  or  answer  to  prayer  meeting.  I 
told  him  I  should  be  glad  to  accompany  him 
to  the  service  on  the  following  evening.  The 
next  day  was  extremely  disagreeable,  a  cold 
winter  rain  and  searching  wind  prevailed. 
The  poet  had  an  engagement  at  Harvard  for 
the  afternoon,  but  a  little  after  six  o'clock  he 


36  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

returned  to  my  office  and  again  expressed  the 
wish,  notwithstanding  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  to  go  to  the  meeting.  As  we  ap- 
proached the  great  temple  I  ventured  the 
opinion  that  the  congregation  would  probably 
appear  very  small,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
church  seats  more  than  five  thousand  persons 
and  the  night  was  so  extremely  disagreeable. 
On  entering  the  auditorium,  however,  we 
were  both  greatly  astonished  to  find  it  almost 
filled,  excepting  the  upper  gallery.  There 
were  probably  between  three  and  four  thou- 
sand persons  present.  The  service  interested 
the  poet  greatly,  and  when  we  left  the  build- 
ing he  expressed  the  pleasure  he  had  derived. 

"  'How  can  you  account,'  I  said,  *for  that 
enormous  audience  on  such  a  night?  It  is 
probable  that  all  the  other  churches  in  the 
Back  Bay  district  put  together  did  not  have 
half  the  number  present  that  were  at  this 
meeting/ 

"  'These  people,'  said  the  poet  earnestly, 
pointing  to  the  Christian  Science  church, 
^believe  their  religion.  It  has  filled  their 
minds  with  a  living  faith,  with  hope  and  with 
love.' 

"Now,"  I  continued,  addressing  my  friend, 
"this  observation  I  believe  to  be  the  simple 


AS   A   RELIGION  37 

truth,  and  in  it  I  find  the  answer  to  your 
question.  Christian  Science  has  come  with 
its  message  instinct  with  spiritual  vitality  at 
an  hour  in  our  country's  history  when  a 
vicious  opportunistic  materialism  is  advanc- 
ing like  creeping  paralysis  over  the  body 
politic,  the  business,  educational  and  religious 
life  of  the  nation.  Its  appeal  is  primarily  to 
the  spiritual  side  of  life;  but  as  with  the 
primitive  presentation  of  the  Gospel,  it  ac- 
companies its  appeal  with  the  offer  of  present 
relief  to  the  sick  body  and  fear-fettered  and 
despairing  mind.  While  helping  the  diseased 
and  unfortunate,  it  lifts  the  eye  from  the  plane 
of  sense-perception,  to  that  of  ethical  ideal- 
ism. It  has  in  a  vital  way  impressed  again 
the  social  ideals  that  were  so  boldly  pro- 
claimed by  Jesus,  while  its  philosophical  con- 
cepts not  only  reflect  the  metaphysical  ideal- 
ism of  the  Gospels  and  of  St.  Paul,  but  also 
strikingly  accord  with  much  of  the  thought  of 
Plato  and  the  greatest  of  the  German  trans- 
cendental thinkers;  and  its  appeal,  unlike 
those  of  the  Greek  and  German  philosophers, 
has  been  made  in  language  the  people  can 
comprehend. 

"Professor  Herbert  E.  Cushman,  Ph.  D., 
of  the  Chair  of  Philosophy  in  Tufts  College, 


38  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

points  out  the  fact  that  on  its  theoretical  side 
it  has  much  in  common  with  the  philosophi- 
cal concepts  of  St.  Paul,  Plotinus,  Spinoza, 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  Luther,  and  even  Whit- 
man. 'It  will  thus  be  seen,'  he  says,  *that 
Christian  Science  is  akin  to  many  mighty 
theories.'  He  holds  that  as  a  movement  it 
is  'not  only  a  reaction  against  ecclesiasticism, 
but  as  its  name  indicates,  against  materialism 
as  well.  Ecclesiasticism  and  materialism  are 
not  of  necessity  companions,  but  in  the  pres- 
ent period  of  civilization  they  happen  to  be 
such.' " 

Very  different  from  the  broad  view  ex- 
pressed by  my  literary  friend  was  the  confi- 
dent opinion  of  another  gentleman,  a  strong 
upholder  of  orthodox  religious  views.  This 
person  felt  sure  that  not  only  was  the  secret 
of  Christian  Science  growth  and  influence  to 
be  found  in  its  claims  in  regard  to  the  cure 
of  physical  ailments,  but  that  it  was  also  the 
master  concern  of  the  leader  and  practition- 
ers of  the  movement;  that  the  loaves  and 
fishes,  or  monetary  return,  was  their  chief 
concern. 

"I  understand,"  he  observed,  "from  per- 
sons who  I  believe  are  thoroughly  reputable 
and  in  a  position  to  know,  and  from  sources 


AS   A   RELIGION  39 

that  I  regard  as  authoritative,  that  the 
claimed  healing  of  disease  and  a  gullible  pub- 
lic are  not  only  the  principal  reasons  for  the 
apparent  success  of  Christian  Science,  but 
that  the  money  to  be  obtained  from  the  treat- 
ment of  disease  which  they  claim  does  not 
exist,  is  the  principal  concern  of  the  Chris- 
tian Scientist." 

"Your  views,"  I  replied,  "are  certainly 
exactly  the  reverse  of  the  clear  teachings  of 
the  founder  of  Christian  Science  as  con- 
stantly emphasized  in  Science  and  Health 
and  her  other  writings,  and  by  the  leading 
writers,  lecturers  and  practitioners  in  the 
church.  I  have  made  a  rather  close  study  of 
this  remarkable  movement  for  some  years 
and  feel  I  can  speak  with  some  degree  of 
positiveness  as  to  the  convictions,  teachings 
and  practice  of  its  representative  leaders.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  think  I  am  warranted  in 
saying  that  your  view  voices  the  hostile,  pre- 
judiced and  biased  attitude  of  conventional 
thought,  which  in  all  ages  and  lands,  when- 
ever a  prophet  with  a  new  message  arises, 
seizes  on  some  fact  in  the  life  or  position  in 
the  proclaimed  word,  and  by  misrepresenta- 
tion and  gross  distortion  conveys  ideas  ex- 
actly the  reverse  of  the  truth.     A  striking 


40  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

illustration  of  this  fact  is  found  in  the  case  of 
Jesus  Christ.    He  mingled  with  the  poor  and 
social  outcasts,  in  order  to  comfort,  teach, 
help  and  uplift  them,  to  bring  into  their  lives 
a  new,  ennobling  and  vitalizing  element,  re- 
demptive  in   character.     And   how   did   the 
hostile,  prejudiced  and  biased  conventional 
leaders  use  this  fact?     Exactly  as  does  the 
same  element  use  the  teachings  of  Christian 
Science  in  regard  to  the  heahng  of  disease, — 
to  mislead  the  public,  that  does  not  take  the 
trouble  to  investigate  at  first  hand.     Jesus, 
it  was  claimed,  was  a  wine-bibber  and  an  as- 
sociate with  the  lowest  classes  of  society. 
Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  position  of  Mrs. 
Eddy  as  strongly  emphasized  in   Science  and 
Healthy  and  that  of  the  authoritative  writers, 
lecturers  and  practitioners,  in  regard  to  the 
healing  of  disease,  is  exactly  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  and  the 
Apostles,  if  you  accept  the  canon  of  Scripture 
as  given  in  our  Bible.     The  Christian  Sci- 
entists teach  that  the  healing  of  all  man- 
/    ner  of  disease  is  a  solemn  injunction  imposed 
I      by  Christ  on  all  His  disciples,  and  must  be 
observed  by  those  who  would  follow  Him. 
The  bodily  improvement  is,  they  hold,  a  re- 
sult of  the  spiritual  illumination  or  a  realiza- 


AS   A   RELIGION  41 

tion  of  the  spiritual  truth  taught  by  Christian 
Science.    The  healing  is  a  direct  evidence  to 
the  recipient  of  his  understanding  of  Divine 
Truth.    To  the  Christian  Scientists,  therefore, 
the  healing  is  a  consequence  or  an  incident, 
resulting  from  the  awakening  of  the  sleeper 
drugged  by  the  lethe  of  sense  to  a  realization 
of  his  Divine  sonship,  to  a  recognition  of  the 
true  spiritual  nature  of  man  and  his  at-one- 
ment  with  the  Father.    This  awakening  leads 
the  prodigal  to  return  to  the  Father's  house, 
to  turn  from  the  husks  of  fleeting  sense  al- 
lurements and  to  accept  first  the  Kingdom 
of    God   or   the   dominion   of   the   spiritual. 
Now,  is  not  this  exactly  in  conformity  with 
the     New    Testament    teaching?      Did    not 
Christ  continually  cure  the  sick  as  a  means 
of  awakening  them  to  a  reaHzation  of  the 
great  fact  voiced  by  Browning  in  the  Hne, 
'All's  love,  yet  all's  law'  ? 

"You,"  I  continued,  "accept  the  canon 
of  the  New  Testament  as  the  revealed  Word 
of  Deity,  and  in  it  nothing  is  more  clearly 
taught  than  that  the  Founder  of  Christianity 
demanded  that  His  disciples  should  ever  ac- 
company the  proclamation  of  the  redemptive 
gospel  of  Light  and  Love  by  the  healing  of 
the  sick.     Indeed,   Christ,  according  to  the 


42  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

New  Testament,  even  went  further  and  made 
the  startling  declaration  that  greater  works 
than  He  had  wrought  should  be  performed 
by  His  disciples.  That  the  Apostles  and 
preachers  of  the  early  church  took  Christ 
seriously  is  amply  proved  by  the  record  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  where  Peter,  Paul 
and  other  of  the  great  first  preachers  con- 
stantly attracted  the  attention  of  the  Jews 
and  Gentiles  to  the  new  evangel  by  the  won- 
derful cures  of  the  sick.  Nor  was  this  all. 
Long  after  the  Apostles  passed  from  view, 
the  Primitive  Church,  still  strong  in  vital  faith, 
took  Christ's  injunction  seriously  and  prac- 
ticed healing,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  writings 
of  such  early  church  fathers  as  Justin  Martyr, 
Irenaeus,  St.  Cyprian,  Clement,  Theodore  of 
Mopsueste,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Augustine,  St. 
Jerome,  and  others. 

"St.  Cyprian  wrote :  *There  is  no  measure 
or  rule  in  the  dispensation  of  the  gifts  of 
heaven  as  in  those  of  the  gifts  of  earth.  The 
Spirit  is  poured  out  liberally  without  limits 
or  barriers.  It  flows  without  stop;  it  over- 
flows without  stint.  By  this  they  cleansed 
unwise  and  impure  souls,  restored  men  to 
spiritual  and  bodily  health,  and  drove  forth 
demons  who  had  made  violent  lodgement  in 


AS   A   RELIGION  43 

"And  the  great  Origen  observes  that: 
'Some  give  evidence  of  their  having  received 
through  their  faith  a  marvelous  power  by  the 
cures  they  perform,  invoking  no  other  name 
over  those  who  need  their  help  than  that  of 
the  God  of  all  things  and  of  Jesus,  along  with 
a  mention  of  His  history.  For  by  these 
means  we  too  have  seen  many  persons  freed 
from  grievous  calamities  and  from  distraction 
of  mind  and  madness,  and  countless  other  ills 
which  could  not  be  cured  by  other  men/ 

"Theodore  of  Mopsueste  wrote :  'Many 
heathen  amongst  us  are  being  healed  by 
Christians  from  whatever  sickness  they  have/ 

"And  Clement  urged  his  disciples  to  prac- 
tice their  gift  of  healing  confidently. 

"Christian  Science,  as  did  the  early  Chris- 
tian church,  holds  the  healing  of  the  sick  to 
be  a  solemn  and  imperative  command  im- 
posed upon  the  disciples  by  the  Founder  of 
Christianity;  but,  as  has  been  observed,  it  is 
regarded  as  a  means  to  the  supreme  end, — 
the  awakening  of  man  from  his  death-like 
slumber  or  the  dream  life  of  sense  domina- 
tion, to  a  realization  of  his  true  nature  and  of 
the  grandeur,  the  dignity,  duty,  responsibil- 
ity and  obligation  of  life. 

"Here,  then,  is  found  the  master  note  in 


44  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

the  message  of  Christian  Science.  Its  su- 
preme appeal  is  to  the  spiritual  nature.  Ac- 
cepting the  Bible  declaration  that  God  is 
Love,  and  that  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the 
Law,  it  seeks  to  lift  the  mind  from  absorption 
in  self  and  the  fleeting  things  of  sense,  to 
thoughts  of  others  and  things  permanent  and 
Hfe-giving;  from  egoism  to  altruism." 

I  now  wish  to  consider  the  significance  of 
this  idealistic  message  to  our  civilization.  It 
came  at  a  moment  when  the  materialism  of 
the  market  had  already  thrown  its  spell  over 
the  imagination  of  our  people;  when  money 
madness  was  spreading  like  a  deadly  con- 
tagion throughout  society,  touching  with  its 
fatal  blight  government,  business,  society,  the 
college,  and  the  church. 

The  remarkable  growth  of  Christian  Sci- 
ence during  the  past  fifteen  years  and  the 
strong  and  compelling  power  which  it  exerts 
over  the  minds  of  its  adherents  lead  me  to 
believe  that  in  it  will  be  found  a  great  and 
potent  agency  for  the  checking  of  the  ad- 
vance of  sordid  and  visionless  materialism 
and  reaction  and  the  reawakening  of  moral 
idealism  in  the  heart  of  the  people. 

As  was  indicated  at  the  opening  of  this 
paper,  history  is  not  wanting  in  examples  of 


AS   A   RELIGION  45 

the  saving  influence  of  a  strong  spiritual  or 
idealistic  message  which  meets  the  heart 
hunger  of  a  people,  even  after  society  has 
yielded  to  the  spell  of  materiaHsm  and 
egoism. 

''Looked  at  from  a  social  point  of  view," 
says  Professor  Cushman,  "the  Christian 
Science  movement  is  a  social  reform.  It 
represents  the  protest  of  the  individual.  It 
finds  its  counterpart  in  many  epochs  in  his- 
tory,— as  in  the  revolt  of  Luther  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  in  the  revolt  of 
Wesley  from  the  English  Church,  and  in 
many  other  ecclesiastical  crises.  .  .  .  The 
individual's  religious  life  has  been  starved, 
and  now  we  find  the  individual  rising  to  a 
full  consciousness  of  his  power.  The  central 
doctrine  of  Christian  Science,  to  wit:  that 
God  is  the  real  in  the  life  of  every  individual, 
although,  as  we  shall  see,  it  is  a  very  old 
doctrine,  has  given  to  the  modern  man  a  new 
sense  of  his  immortality  and  greatness." 

Even  more  striking  than  the  instances 
cited  by  Professor  Cushman,  is  the  parallel 
between  the  condition  of  present-day  society 
and  certain  marked  characteristics  of  the  life 
of  the  Jews,  Greeks  and  Romans  two  thou- 
sand years  ago.     Indeed,  so  suggestive  are 


y 


46  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

some  of  these  parallels  that  a  glance  at  the 
elder  civilization  at  the  time  of  the  advent  of 
Christianity  will  help  us  to  better  understand 
the  significance  of  the  new  spiritual  appeal 
at  the  present  crucial  period  in  our  history, 
though  we  should  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  we  today  are  on  a  much  higher  round  of 
the  spiral  ladder. 

History  emphasizes  no  more  inspiring 
truth  than  that,  although  there  come  from 
time  to  time  periods  of  depression  and  par- 
tial eclipse,  when  not  unfrequently  nations 
die  and  sometimes  civilizations  pass  from  the 
stage,  yet  on  the  whole  man  is  slowly  but 
surely  rising.  The  trend  of  life  is  Godward. 
y  When  the  Great  Nazarene  proclaimed  His 
new  and  revolutionary  gospel,  which  was 
followed  by  the  rise  and  rapid  spread  of 
Christianity,  the  civilization  of  the  Roman 
world  presented  an  intensely  melancholy 
spectacle.  Externalism,  artificiality,  egoism 
and  materialism  were  the  dominant  notes  of 
life  in  the  three  great  capitals  of  world 
thought — Rome,  Athens  and  Jerusalem. 
Then  through  the  music  of  life  ran  the  note 
of  despair.  Men  existed  rather  than  lived. 
It  was  a  period  of  triumphant  animalism,  in 
which  revolting  lust  and  refined  savagery,  ex- 


AS   A   RELIGION  47 

cessive  wealth  and  abject  penury,  frequently- 
made  all  the  more  hopeless  and  repellent  by 
sanctimonious  hypocrisy,  existed  on  every 
side.  Rome,  then  the  throbbing  heart  of 
this  civilization,  was  given  over  to  the  lust  of 
the  eye,  the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the  pride  of 
life.  Intellectual  training  without  moral  cul- 
ture was  a  characteristic  of  high  life.  In 
vain  did  the  Stoics  attempt  to  stem  the  tide 
of  degradation.  The  idle  rich  had  long  since 
become  vicious  and  lawless ;  the  idle  poor  had 
become  criminal  and  debauched.  The  great 
struggling  millions  found  life  day  by  day 
more  hopeless  and  their  burdens  grew  gradu- 
ally heavier  and  heavier.  Luxury  existing  by 
the  side  of  want  is  an  unfailing  sign  of  moral 
disintegration.  The  historian  Froude  has 
given  us  an  admirable  characterization  of 
the  Rome  of  this  period  in  the  following 
graphic  words. 

"It  was  an  age  of  material  progress  and 
material  civilization;  an  age  of  pamphlets 
and  epigrams ;  of  salons  and  of  dinner  parties ; 
of  senatorial  majorities  and  electoral  corrup- 
tion. The  highest  offices  of  state  were  open, 
in  theory,  to  the  meanest  citizen;  they  were 
confined,  in  fact,  to  those  who  had  the  long- 
est purse  or  the  most  ready  use  of  the  tongue 


^^/ 


48  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

on  popular  platforms.  Distinction  of  birth 
had  been  exchanged  for  distinction  of  wealth. 
The  struggle  between  plebeians  and  patricians 
for  equality  of  privilege  was  over,  and  a  new 
division  had  been  formed  between  the  party 
of  property  and  a  party  who  desired  a  change 
in  the  structure  of  society.  The  free  cultiva- 
tors were  disappearing  from  the  soil.  Italy 
was  being  fast  absorbed  into  vast  estates  held 
by  a  few  favored  families  and  cultivated  by 
slaves,  while  the  old  agricultural  population 
was  driven  off  the  land  and  was  crowded  into 
towns.  The  rich  were  extravagant,  for  life 
had  ceased  to  have  practical  interest  except 
for  its  material  pleasures;  the  occupation  of 
the  higher  classes  was  to  obtain  money  with- 
out labor,  and  to  spend  it  in  idle  enjoyment. 
"  Religion,  once  the  foundation  of  the  laws 
and  rule  of  personal  conduct,  had  subsided 
into  opinion.  The  educated  in  their  hearts 
disbelieved  it.  Temples  were  still  built  with 
increasing  splendor;  the  established  forms 
were  scrupulously  observed.  Public  men 
spoke  conventionally  of  Providence,  that  they 
might  throw  on  their  opponents  the  odium 
of  impiety ;  but  of  genuine  belief  that  life  had 
any  serious  meaning,  there  was  none  re- 
maining beyond  the  circle  of  the  silent,  pa- 


AS   A   RELIGION  49 

tient,  ignorant  multitude.  The  whole  spirit- 
ual atmosphere  was  saturated  with  cant — 
cant  political,  cant  religious ;  an  affectation  of 
high  principle  which  had  ceased  to  touch  the 
conduct  and  flowed  on  in  an  increasing  vol- 
ume of  insincere  and  unreal  speech." 

Archdeacon  F.  W.  Farrar,  in  commenting 
on  the  Rome  of  this  period,  says: 

''In  the  age  of  Augustus  began  that  'long, 
slow  agony,'  that  melancholy  process   of  a 
society  gradually  going  to  pieces  under  the  j 
dissolving  influence  of  its  own  vices. 

"The  ceremonies  of  religion  were  per- 
formed with  ritualistic  splendor,  but  all  belief 
in  religion  was  dead  and  gone.  'That  there 
are  such  things  as  ghosts  and  subterranean 
realms  not  even  boys  believe,'  says  Juvenal, 
'except  those  who  are  still  too  young  to  pay 
a  farthing  for  a  bath.'  And  yet  the  highest 
title  of  the  emperor  himself  was  that  of  ponti- 
fex  maximus^  or  chief  priest,  which  he 
claimed  as  the  recognized  head  of  the  na- 
tional religion. 


"It  was  an  age  of  the  most  enormous  \ 
wealth  existing  side  by  side  with  the  most  ^ 
abject  poverty. 


50  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

"It  was  an  age  of  boundless  luxury — an 
age  in  which  women  recklessly  vied  with 
each  other  in  the  race  of  splendor  and  ex- 
travagance, and  in  which  men  plunged  head- 
long, without  a  single  scruple  of  conscience 
and  with  every  possible  resource  at  their 
command,  into  the  pursuit  of  pleasure.  There 
was  no  form  of  luxury,  there  was  no  refine- 
ment of  vice  invented  by  any  foreign  nation, 
which  had  not  been  eagerly  adopted  by  the 
Roman  patricians." 

Passing  eastward  from  Italy  we  find  that 
Greece  at  this  time  presented  a  spectacle  less 
tragic  but  very  melancholy.  Society  was  per- 
meated with  artificiality.  There  was  a  hollow 
ring  to  conventional  life  on  every  side,  but 
there  was  also  a  deep  heart-hunger  for  some- 
thing better.  The  golden  age  of  Pericles  had 
long  since  departed,  and  the  great  philoso- 
phers whose  intellects  are  still  the  wonder 
and  admiration  of  the  world  had  passed  away 
to  be  followed  by  a  horde  of  sophists  who 
were  little  better  than  sounding-boards — 
bodies  without  souls — talking-machines  who, 
having  little  faith,  hope  or  love,  had  made 
philosophy  a  profession  in  order  to  enjoy  life 
at  ease.  Of  the  Grecian  world  of  this  period 
Professor  Edwin  Hatch  observed  that  it  was 


AS   A   RELIGION  51 

"a  world  which  had  created  an  artificial  type 
of  life  and  which  was  too  artificial  to  recog- 
nize its  own  artificiality — a  world  whose 
schools,  instead  of  being  laboratories  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  future,  were  forges  in  which 
the  chains  of  the  present  were  fashioned  from 
the  knoweldge  of  the  past." 

When  in  the  earlier  days  moral  idealism 
swayed  the  Grecian  world,  Persia's  might  and 
millions  were  powerless ;  but  after  sordid  ma- 
terialism and  artificiality  became  the  domin- 
ant note  of  life,  Greece  went  down  before  the 
comparatively  insignificant  might  of  Mace- 
don.  There  is  Httle  doubt  but  wtect  Phillip 
and  Alexander  would  have  been  as  powerless 
as  Darius  and  Xerxes,  had  not  the  old  spirit 
of  Greece  given  way  before  the  growing  love 
of  show  and  amusement.  "The  rich,"  ob- 
serves Professor  Fyffe,  "grudged  giving  the  J 
state  anything  and  tried  to  escape  taxes."/ 
After  the  conquest  of  Greece  by  the  Macedo- 
nians the  degeneracy  rapidly  increased. 
Temples  were  reared  on  every  side,  but  re- 
ligion gave  place  to  a  sensuous  materialism 
in  the  popular  heart. 

And  yet  here,  in  the  midst  of  a  life  so  char- 
acterized by  insincerity,  so  essentially  super- 
ficial in  character,  were  numbers  of  men  and 


52  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

women  who  thirsted  for  something  which 
their  hollow  education,  their  shows,  games 
and  amusements,  their  multitudinous  temples 
and  elaborate  ceremonialism,  signally  failed 
to  supply.  There  was  a  deep  heart-hunger 
for  something  real  and  sincere,  something 
which  possessed  the  power  of  restoring  faith, 
awakening  hope  and  kindling  that  compre- 
hensive love  which  extends  to  all  sentient 
beings,  and  marks  the  zenith  of  lifers  aspira- 
tions as  boldly  as  sensualism  marks  its  nadir. 
This  feeling  was  seen  on  every  side.  We  are 
told  that  the  Apostle  Paul  found  a  temple 
dedicated  to  the  "unknown  God."  What 
could  be  more  pathetic? 

Leaving  Greece,  we  enter  the  Palestine  of 
the  period.  Here  it  is  noticeable  that  reHgion 
had  degenerated  into  soulless  formalism,  and 
theology  concerned  itself  with  the  outside  of 
the  cup  of  Hfe.  The  phylacteries  were  en- 
larged and  the  prayers  lengthened.  The 
deep,  earnest  cry  of  faith  was  drowned  by  the 
self-adulation  of  the  pompous  Pharisee  or  the 
jangling  voices  of  warring  sects.  The  Sad- 
ducees  sat  in  high  seats  and  scoffed  at  the 
dream  of  a  future  life.  Ecclesiasticism  and 
materialism  were  enthroned  in  the  temple. 
The  people  were  expected  to  regard  rigidly 


AS   A   RELIGION  53 

the  outward  form  and  narrow  dogma  of  sect 
and  race.  They  were  taught  to  hate  the 
Samaritans  as  idolaters  and  perverters  of  the 
truth  rather  than  love  them  as  brothers,  who, 
if  erring,  were  brothers  still.  The  masses 
were  in  intellectual  bondage  to  those  who 
taught  conventional  religion  with  their 
mouths,  whilst  their  lives  perpetually  con- 
tradicted all  that  was  vital  or  uplifting  in  reli- 
gion. Moreover,  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  gov- 
ernment weighed  on  the  nation  and  the  peo- 
ple were  compelled  to  bear  a  crushing  load 
imposed  on  them  by  the  merciless  rapacity 
of  extortioners  who,  under  the  cloak  of  the 
law,  robbed  the  poor  of  well-nigh  all  but  their 
daily  bread. 

At  this  time,  when  vital  faith  had  flown, 
when  hope  was  dying  and  love  was  withering 
like  a  canker-eaten  flower,  there  came  out 
of  a  little  obscure  village  in  GaHlee  a  serene 
soul,  whose  inner  nature  was  nourished  by  a 
great  and  abiding  faith  in  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  good ^  and  in  the  reaHty  of  a  Divine 
Father,  who  was  Spirit  and  who  radiated  the 
light  of  Truth,  whose  name  was  Love,  and  in 
whom  we  live,  move  and  have  our  being. 
This  lofty  soul  felt  what  only  the  most  spirit- 
ual and  sensitive  natures  are  capable  of  ap- 


54  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

predating  the  weight  of  the  people'^s  mis- 
eries. Nor  was  this  all:  He  possessed  that 
energizing  faith  in  the  divinity  of  man  which 
rendered  it  possible  for  him  to  rise  above 
savagery,  greed  and  sensual  joys ;  His  brain 
was  aflame  with  Love ;  a  great  hope  filled  His 
heart;  the  dream  of  a  universal  brotherhood 
based  on  the  Golden  Rule  dwelt  in  His  mind, 
as  an  ideal  haunts  the  brain  of  a  sculptor  un- 
til he  yields  to  his  impulses  and  gives  it  ex- 
pression. He  was  philosopher  enough  to 
realize  that  if  His  ideal  was  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  hearts  of  others  something  more 
than  theory  must  be  manifested.  His  life 
was  the  expression  of  His  dream.  His  words 
and  deeds  carried  with  them  a  potency  which 
boldly  contrasted  with  the  perfunctory  teach- 
ing of  the  conventional  religionists  of  His 
time.  His  lofty  faith  and  overmastering  pas- 
sion for  justice,  the  ever-present  sympathy 
for  those  sinned  against,  and  His  potent 
power  in  the  presence  of  disease,  born  of 
faith  and  understanding,  spoke  of  something 
which  answered  the  heart  cry  of  the  loftiest 
and  most  divine  emotions  known  to  life.  His 
dream  was  the  noblest  that  has  ever  haunted 
the  brain  of  man — the  ideal  of  a  redeemed 
humanity,  brought   en  rapport  with  God  or 


AS   A   RELIGION  55 

the  Cosmic  Mind,  and  forming  a  brotherhood 
cemented  by  all-encompassing  love  and  made 
strong  by  a  living  faith  and  never-vanishing 
hope. 

The  Serene  Dreamer  alarmed  respectable 
conventionalism  in  church  and  state,  with  the 
usual  result, — persecution,  false  witness,  and 
in  His  case,  the  martyr's  crown.  But  the 
message  once  given  could  never  die.  It  met 
the  heart-hunger  of  the  age.  Its  great  lumin- 
ous truth, — the  reality  of  the  Divine  Life,  the 
All-Father,  whose  essence  was  Love,  the 
sonship  of  man,  the  brotherhood  of  the  chil- 
dren of  men — from  glittering  generalities, 
these  things  became  life-governing  convic- 
tions. The  strong  faith,  the  great  hope,  the 
radiant  love  which  characterized  His  life  and 
teachings,  fired  the  hearts  of  those  who  dwelt 
with  Him.  They  tried  to  return  to  their  nets, 
but  were  impelled  to  higher  duties.  He  who 
is  touched  by  the  divine  flame  cannot  again 
find  contentment  on  the  self-plane.  The 
peace  which  comes  from  doing  good,  the 
great  calm  of  the  soul  which  is  known  only  to 
those  who  make  the  great  renunciation,  and 
devote  thought,  deed  and  life  to  truth,  justice 
and  love,  forever  closes  the  gate  of  life 
against  sordid  greed,  selfish  gratification  and 


56  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

pseudo  pleasures  which  characterize  the  life 
of  the  unawakened  spirit.  And  so  these  once 
simple-hearted  fishermen  became  torch-bear- 
ers of  Hfe  in  the  hour  of  humanity's  night. 
They  carried  throughout  Palestine,  Greece 
and  Italy  the  gospel  of  faith,  hope  and  love, 
and  this  light  from  the  East  revived  the 
divine  in  the  hearts  of  the  despairing. 

Returning  to  our  age,  while  it  is  freely  ad- 
mitted that  great  and  beneficent  advance 
has  been  made  during  the  past  two  thousand 
years,  we  cannot  blind  ourselves  to  the  fact 
that  the  past  fifty  years  have  witnessed  a  de- 
cided sweep  away  from  the  idealism  of  the 
early  years  of  our  history  and  an  advance  of 
materialistic-concepts  to  a  commanding  place 
in  the  thought-world  of  the  Republic. 

As  Christianity  came  to  a  world  under  the 
spell  of  materialism,  concerned  with  the  shell 
and  ignoring  the  vital  spirit, — a  society  given 
over  to  egoism,  self-desire  and  sensuous 
allurements,  so  Christian  Science  has  come 
at  a  time  when  our  society  was  fast  coming 
under  the  death-dealing  spell  of  the  material- 
ism of  the  market,  the  sordid,  selfish,  egoistic 
and  mammon-worshiping  influence  which 
ends  in  spiritual  death;  and  by  reawakening 
faith  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, — a  living 


AS   A   RELIGION  57 

faith  in  a  living  God,  by  lifting  the  thought 
from  the  transient,  sordid,  egoistic  and  ma- 
terialistic ideals  that  are  threatening  to  en- 
slave the  nation  and  centering  man's  thought 
on  the  eternal  moral  verities,  it  is  not  only- 
transforming  the  lives  of  thousands,  but  is 
making  each  one  thus  brought  under  the 
compulsion  of  moral  idealism  a  diffusive  cen- 
ter radiating  the  light,  the  faith  and  the  love 
that  are  life-sustaining  elements  of  civiliza- 
tion. 


II 

CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  A  THERAPEUTIC 
AGENT 


CHAPTER  III 

CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE   AND   ORGANIC   DISEASE 

O  ONE  who  has  carefully  studied 
the  phenomenal  spread  of  Chris- 
tian Science  during  the  past 
twelve  years,  since  the  first  church 
was  dedicated,  nothing  is  more  significant 
than  the  rapid  shifting  of  ground  on  the  part 
of  physicians  and  conventional  critics  in  re- 
gard to  the  curing  of  the  sick.  At  first  there 
was  general  incredulity  expressed  and  very 
positive  denials  of  the  claims  were  made  by  a 
large  proportion  of  those  who  think  along 
conventional  and  scholastic  lines. 

Later,  when  a  grudging  admission  was 
forced  in  regard  to  cures,  owing  to  the  large 
number  of  cases  in  which  healing  was  claimed 
and  the  unanswerable  character  of  the  evi- 
dence, it  was  urged  that  the  people  cured 
were  for  the  most  part  ignorant,  over-credu- 
lous or  neurotic  characters,  long  the  victims 
of  imaginary  diseases,  but  that  no  well-de- 
fined cures  of  persons  really  ill  could  be  ad- 
duced. .,  ^ 

01 


62  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

Unhappily  for  its  critics,  investigation  re- 
vealed the  striking  fact  that  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  those  who  had  accepted  Christian 
Science  after  they  had  been  cured  by  it  were 
persons  of  prominence  in  public,  professional, 
educational  and  business  life ;  persons  of  far 
more  than  ordinary  intelligence  and  in  many 
instances  individuals  who  by  special  training, 
such  as  judges,  for  example,  were  accustomed 
to  close  and  logical  reasoning  and  the  weigh- 
ing of  evidence  in  a  critical  manner.  More- 
over, it  was  apparent  on  personal  investiga- 
tion that  a  very  large  proportion — probably 
seven-tenths,  of  the  Christian  Science  fellow- 
ship had  come  into  the  church  through  being 
healed  after  orthodox  medical  treatment  had 
been  long  and  faithfully,  but  fruitlessly,  tried. 

Since  the  volume  of  evidence  relating  to 
remarkable  cures  wrought  under  Christian 
Science  treatment  has  grown  so  great  that  it 
is  no  longer  possible  for  persons  having  any 
regard  for  their  reputations  to  deny  the  facts, 
certain  physicians  and  clergymen  have  been 
forced  again  to  shift  their  ground.  They  now 
admit  what  can  no  longer  be  ignored,  but  in 
Heu  of  the  denials  of  yesterday  they  now  ad- 
vance the  claim  that  while  functional  diseases 
may  be   and  are  being  cured  by   Christian 


A   THERAPEUTIC  AGENT      63 

Science,  no  organic  disease  can  be  thus  suc- 
cessfully met. 

It  is  our  purpose  in  the  present  paper  to 
examine  this  claim  and  in  so  doing  we  shall 
cite  the  testimony  of  men  who,  even  in  the 
eyes  of  the  medical  fraternity,  must  be  re- 
garded as  having  the  training  and  practice 
that  would  render  them  competent  to  diflfer- 
eniate  between  functional  and  organic  dis- 
ease ;  men  who  through  medical  training  and 
wide  or  extensive  practice  in  the  treatment 
of  the  sick  according  to  the  orthodox  sys- 
tems, are  certainly  entitled  to  the  serious  at- 
tention of  those  who  beHeve  that  only 
regularly-educated  medical  doctors  are  com- 
petent to  determine  when  a  disease  that  is 
killing  a  patient  is  functional  or  organic. 

Clergymen,  editors  and  doctors  have  re- 
cently appeared  in  print,  assuming  almost  as 
dogmatic  an  attitude  as  that  taken  by  the 
critics  ten  years  ago,  who  ridiculed  the  claim 
that  any  disease  could  be  cured  by  Christian 
Science. 

Perhaps  the  most  distinguished  of  these 
recent  critics  is  Dr.  Richard  C.  Cabot,  the 
well-known  Boston  physician  and  instructor 
in  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  In  a  late 
issue  of  one  of  the  popular  magazines  this 


64  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

physician  undertakes  to  examine  Christian 
Science  cures  with  a  view  to  showing  that 
though  "most  Christian  Science  cures  are 
probably  genuine  .  .  .  they  are  not  cures 
of  organic  diseases." 

Dr.  Cabot,  in  common  with  many  physi- 
cians and  other  critics  of  Christian  Science, 
makes  much  of  the  inabihty  of  the  sick  to 
judge  of  what  is  affecting  them  and  their 
equal  inability  to  correctly  understand  or  re- 
port the  opinions  given  by  their  physicians. 
Now  while  it  is  right  and  proper  to  make  a 
certain  degree  of  allowance  for  ignorance  on 
the  part  of  the  sick  in  regard  to  the  exact 
character  of  their  diseases,  and  perhaps  for 
carelessness  or  mendacity  in  reporting  the 
opinions  given  by  their  family  physicians  or 
the  doctors  who  have  treated  their  cases  and 
failed  to  cure  their  ailments,  it  is  quite  possi- 
ble that  too  much  emphasis  is  placed  on  this 
alleged  ignorance  and  loose  thinking  on  the 
part  of  the  patients  by  the  critics  of  Christian 
Science ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  im- 
portant to  remember  that  the  physicians  who 
are  so  ready  to  discredit  the  testimony  of 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  persons, 
many  of  whom  are  men  and  women  of  very 
superior  intelligence,  who  have  been  cured  by 


A  THERAPEUTIC  AGENT         65 

Christian  Science,  are  themselves  largely  dis- 
qualified for  passing  on  the  evidence  in  a 
thoroughly  judicial  spirit. 

And  in  saying  this,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
maintain  that  the  doctors  in  question  are  in- 
tentionally dishonest  or  unfair.  They  have, 
however,  been  thoroughly  educated  to  believe 
exactly  the  opposite  of  what  the  Christian 
Science  philosophy  teaches.  Not  only  has 
their  scholastic  training  taught  them  to  re- 
gard with  intolerance  and  contempt  theories 
which  claim  that  disease  can  be  cured  by 
means  other  than  what  are  known  as  ma- 
terial, but  their  practice  naturally  fortifies  the 
teachings  which  they  have  accepted  as  true. 
They  are  day  by  day  administering  medicine ; 
their  position  is  emphatically  the  materialis- 
tic as  opposed  to  the  mental.  Theoretically 
they  are  at  one  pole,  the  Christian  Scientists 
at  the  other.  And  all  students  of  history  and 
human  life  know  full  well  how  difficult  it  is 
for  even  the  broadest-visioned  thinker  to  rise 
superior  to  prejudice,  when  he  is  viewing 
something  that  he  has  always  regarded  as 
the  antithesis  of  the  truth.  The  mental  eye 
becomes  accustomed  to  seeing  things  in  a 
certain  light.  Change  the  focus,  and  every- 
thing appears  distorted.    The  old  Cretan  who 


66  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

for  thirty  years  was  imprisoned  in  a  dark 
cave,  when  dragged  into  the  glorious  sunlight 
shrieked  in  agony,  declaring  that  the  sunlight 
poisoned  him.  So  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that 
persons  whose  education,  environment  and 
daily  practice  are  opposed  to  a  certain  theory, 
are  to  a  great  degree  incapacitated  from 
fairly,  judicially  or  competently  judging  such 
a  theory. 

There  is  a  further  factor  entering  into  the 
case,  in  so  far  as  the  physicians  are  con- 
cerned, which  in  many  instances  doubtless 
tends  to  bias  judgment,  and  that  is  the  bread- 
and-butter  consideration — the  circumstance 
that  the  livelihood  of  the  physician  and  the 
success  of  the  medical  schools  are  measur- 
ably threatened  by  the  rise  and  rapid  growth 
of  a  new  and  successful  method  of  cure.  The 
bitter  opposition  which  confronted  Hahne- 
mann, following  his  wonderfully  successful 
treatment  of  typhoid  fever,  became  so  intense 
that  he  was  compelled  to  leave  Leipsic;  and 
all  persons  familiar  with  the  history  of  medi- 
cal advance  know  full  well  how  bitterly  the 
schoolmen  have  fought  every  innovation  that 
came  from  without. 

During  the  past  fifty  years,  or  since  the 
age  of  consolidation  and  the  growth  of  mon- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        dy 

opolies  and  trusts,  the  medical  profession  has 
been  the  most  active  of  all  professions  in  its 
attempt  to  gain  legal  protection  that  would 
grant  it  a  monopoly  in  the  treatment  of  the 
sick. 

Herbert  Spencer,  in  Social  Statics,  aptly 
touches  on  this  aspect  of  the  matter — the 
motive  of  gain.  After  pointing  out  the  anal- 
ogy between  the  would-be  medical  hierarchy 
and  that  of  the  church  in  earlier  days,  when 
she  arrogated  to  herself  the  right  to  compel 
men  to  beHeve  whatever  she  deemed  the 
truth,  or  suffer  torture  and  death  for  refusing 
to  conform  to  her  demands,  he  says : 

"Moved  as  are  the  projectors  of  a  railway, 
who,  whilst  secretly  hoping  for  salaries,  per- 
suade themselves  and  others  that  the  pro- 
posed railway  will  be  beneficial  to  the  public 
— moved  as  all  men  are  under  such  circum- 
stances, by  nine  parts  of  self-interest  gilt  over 
with  one  part  of  philantrophy — surgeons  and 
physicians  are  vigorously  striving  to  erect  a 
medical  establishment  akin  to  our  religious 
one."* 

Now  when  this  motive — the  bread-and- 
butter  phase  of  the  question — is  added  to  the 
other  even  stronger  influence — that  of  preju- 

*Social  Statics,  p.  409 


68  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

dice,  environment,  education  and  practice,  is 
it  not  clear  that  even  if  doctors  desired  to  be 
fair  and  just,  yet  they  cannot  be  expected  to 
be  unbiased  in  their  views?  Though,  as  we 
have  already  observed,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
hold  that  a  physician  who  opposes  Christian 
Science  is  consciously  influenced  in  a  domin- 
ant way  by  his  desire  to  protect  his  practice 
or  to  further  the  interests  of  the  school  in 
which  he  is  a  professor ;  nor  is  it  necessary  to 
claim  that  he  is  consciously  the  slave  of  pre- 
judice and  preconceived  ideas;  yet  certain  it 
is  that  in  a  large  number  of  cases  these 
things,  and  especially  the  education,  practice 
and  prejudice,  incapacitate  doctors  from  im- 
partially judging  the  question  of  cures  pro- 
duced in  a  way  which,  according  to  their 
books,  is  as  absurd  and  impossible  as  was  the 
Copernican  theory  ridiculous  and  impossible 
to  the  scholars  who  all  their  lives  had  taught 
the  theories  of  Ptolemy.  And  it  is  very  im- 
portant to  keep  this  fact  in  mind  when  con- 
sidering physicians'  criticisms  of  Christian, 
Science.  In  some  respects  it  would  seem 
that  the  doctors  were  peculiarly  well  fitted  to 
consider  the  question,  but  in  equally  marked 
respects  they  are  of  all  persons  the  least  able 
to  rise  above  prejudice  and  become  wisely 
judicial. 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        69 

Dr.  Cabot,  in  the  opening  page  of  his 
paper,  says : 

"In  my  own  personal  researches  into 
Christian  Science  'cures,'  I  have  never  found 
one  in  which  there  was  any  good  evidence 
that  cancer,  consumption,  or  any  other  or- 
ganic disease  had  been  arrested  or  banished. 
The  diagnosis  was  usually  made  either  by 
the  patient  himself  or  was  an  interpretation 
at  second  or  third  hand  of  what  a  doctor  was 
supposed  to  have  said." 

Let  us  hope  that  the  good  doctor  does  not 
belong  to  the  class  that  are  blind  because 
they  will  not  see,  or  that  class  of  spiritually 
bHnd  and  deaf  referred  to  by  the  Great 
Nazarene  in  one  of  his  parables,  when  He 
said,  "Neither  would  they  be  persuaded  if 
one  came  from  the  dead." 

That  Dr.  Cabot  finds  it  difficult  to  fit  his 
theory  to  the  facts,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
evidence  with  which  he  has  been  confronted, 
is  indicated  by  the  labored  way  in  which  he 
prefaces  his  discussion,  when  describing 
functional  and  organic  diseases,  and  the  many 
loopholes  he  leaves  for  escape  in  the  event 
that  cures  exhibiting  conditions  that  are  sup- 
posed to  be  characteristic  of  organic  troubles 


70  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 


*.' 


are   adduced.     To   appreciate  this   fact,  we 
need  only  peruse  his  words,  as  follows : 

"I  have  never  seen  any  reason  to  believe 
that  lies  were  told  by  the  persons  concerned. 
Their  claims  were  the  result  of  mistake  or 
intellectual  mistiness,  and  not  of  intentional 
deception.  The  cures  no  doubt  took  place 
as  they  asserted,  but  they  were  not  cures  of 
organic  disease.  Now,  before  going  further, 
something  must  be  said  in  explanation  of  the 
terms  'organic'  and  'functional.'  By  organic 
disease  is  meant  one  that  causes  serious, 
perhaps  permanent,  deterioration  of  the  tis- 
sues of  the  body;  by  functional  disease  is 
meant  one  due  to  a  perverted  action  of  ap- 
proximately normal  organs.  Functional  dis- 
eases are  no  more  imaginary  than  an  un- 
governable temper  of  a  balky  horse  is  im- 
aginary. They  are  often  the  source  of  acute 
and  long-continued  suffering ;  indeed,  I  be- 
lieve that  there  is  no  class  of  diseases  that 
give  rise  to  so  much  keen  suffering;  but  still 
they  do  not  seriously  damage  the  organs  and 
tissues  of  the  body.  Organic  disease,  on  the 
other  hand,  may  run  its  course  accompanied 
by  much  less  suffering,  but  the  destruction  of 
tissue  is  serious,  perhaps  irreparable.  The 
sharpness  of  this  distinction  between  organic 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT         71 

and  functional  troubles  is  somewhat  blurred 
by  the  fact  that  a  functional  or  nervous  af- 
fection, such  as  insomnia,  may  lead,  both 
directly  and  through  loss  of  appetite,  to  a 
loss  of  weight  or  to  a  considerable  deteriora- 
tion in  the  body  tissues.  Here  we  have  what 
might  be  called  organic  disease  produced  by 
functional  disease.  .  .  We  must  also  rec- 
ognize the  fact  that  there  are  a  few  rare  dis- 
eases which  we  cannot  certainly  assign  either 
to  the  organic  or  the  functional  class.  Yet 
despite  these  reservations,  the  distinction 
which  the  words  indicate  is  still  a  clear  one 
in  the  vast  majority  of  cases." 

Personally,  we  believe  that  the  alleged  ig- 
norance of  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  patients  who  have  been  cured  by 
Christian  Science,  after  long  and  faithful  trial 
of  other  means  has  proved  entirely  futile,  is 
being  largely  overworked  by  the  physicians. 
Thus,  for  example,  the  Christian  Science 
Committee  in  New  York  has  a  record  of 
11,244*  cures  that  have  been  wrought  by 
Christian  Science  in  the  Empire  State.  A 
large  number  of  these  have  been,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  thoroughly  intelligent 
men  and  women  and  their  declaration  as.  to 

♦See  Broadtoay  Magazine^  November,  1907 


^2  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

the  diagnosis  of  the  physicians,  such  organic 
diseases  as  cancer,  tuberculosis  of  the  lungs, 
Bright's  disease  of  the  kidneys,  etc.  New 
York  is  under  a  strict  medical  law  which  has 
enabled  the  regular  schools  to  drive  out  ir- 
regular medical  practitioners,  and  yet,  ac- 
cording to  the  statements  of  hundreds  of 
well-known  citizens  of  New  York  who  have 
been  cured  by  Christian  Science,  the  physi- 
cians who  previously  treated  them  diagnosed 
their  diseases  as  organic.  And  what  is  true 
of  New  York  is  true  of  various  other  states. 

Moreover,  Christian  Science  practitioners 
with  whom  we  are  well  acquainted — men  and 
women  of  fine  education,  high-minded,  con- 
scientious and  intellectually  brilliant,  inform 
us  that  it  has  been  their  experience  in  the 
treatment  of  disease,  that  organic  troubles 
yield  quite  as  readily  as  functional  disorders. 
Personally,  we  believe  that  the  evidence  ob- 
tainable would  amply  disprove  the  claims  of 
the  physicians  before  any  unprejudiced  or 
impartial  tribunal. 

But  since  the  physicians  lay  so  much  stress 
on  the  testimony  of  their  own  schoolmen; 
since  they  would  have  us  believe  that  only 
those  who  have  been  trained  by  an  education 
in  medical  colleges  and  by  long  years  of  prac- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        73 

tice  are  competent  to  authoritatively  differ- 
entiate between  organic  and  functional  dis- 
eases, we  at  the  present  time  shall  devote  our 
attention  to  the  testimony  of  physicians  on 
this  point ;  and  in  the  first  instance  we  desire 
to  call  the  reader's  attention  to  some  facts 
presented  by  Dr.  W.  F.  W.  Wilding,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of 
England,  of  the  British  Medical  Association, 
the  Incorporated  Society  of  Medical  Officers 
of  Health,  and  of  the  Licentiate  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  of  London,  England. 
Surely  this  man  ought  to  be  competent  to 
diagnose  disease  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
medical  brethren,  and  his  testimony  therefore 
has  peculiar  interest  and  value  in  this  con- 
nection. In  giving  the  story  of  his  own  per- 
sonal observation  and  experience  in  regard 
to  the  cure  of  organic  disease  by  Christian 
Science  treatment.  Dr.  Wilding  says: 

"My  father  had  been  suffering  for  many 
years  from  an  internal  trouble,  culminating 
in  a  serious  attack  of  hemorrhage,  and  while 
contemplating  an  operation,  he  was  per- 
suaded to  try  Christian  Science  first,  with  the 
result  that  the  operation  was  never  required. 
He  was  completely  healed  in  a  few  days' 
treatment.    The  report  of  this  heaHng  raised 


74  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

such  a  bitter  feeling  of  resentment  in  me 
that  I  think  I  should  have  been  more  pleased 
if  the  cure  had  failed,  for  I  then  deemed 
Christian  Science  to  be  quackery. 

"However,  some  months  later  came  my 
extremity,  when  medicine  failed  to  check  my 
daughter's  headlong  passage  to  her  grave. 
.  .  .  The  disease  my  daughter  was  suf- 
fering from  was  tuberculosis,  in  both  hip 
joints,  and  also  consumption  of  the  lungs. 
For  the  diseased  joints  she  had  been  kept 
rigidly  bandaged  down  to  an  iron  frame 
reaching  from  the  shoulders  to  the  ankles, 
holding  the  body  firmly  fixed  in  the  prone 
position.  This  was  the  usual  surgical  appli- 
ance for  double  hip-joint  disease.  Life  in 
the  open  air  and  residence  in  a  pure  atmos- 
phere and  all  other  means  to  combat  the 
scourge  were  tried,  and  yet  at  the  age  of 
nearly  eight  years  she  had  wasted  down  to 
less  than  thirty  pounds,  i.  e.,  to  the  weight  of 
an  average  child  of  two  years;  in  fact,  to  Jess 
than  her  own  weight  at  two  years  of  age." 

Dr.  Wilding  then  describes  how  he  placed 
his  daughter,  who  was  then  very  near  to 
death,  under  Christian  Science  treatment,  a 
treatment  that  resulted  in  "transforming  the 
whole  outlook  for  my  daughter.     The  ma- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        75 

terial  shackles  were  at  once  discarded  and 
the  child  began  to  walk  without  suffering 
pain. 

"From  that  day,  six  and  a  half  years  ago, 
she  has  gone  on  improving,  without  any  set- 
back and  without  spending  an  hour  in  bed 
through  sickness.  The  joints  became  free, 
the  stiffened  limbs  supple,  and  the  wasted  tis- 
sues were  steadily  and  regularly  rebuilt,  until 
she  is  now  one  of  the  most  healthy  girls  in 
her  school,  never  ailing,  never  absent,  always 
able  to  take  her  part  with  other  girls,  both 
in  school  and  out  of  school.  She  has  not  one 
symptom  of  disease  about  her. 

"In  my  practice  were  several  patients  suf- 
fering from  organic  incurable  disease ;  some 
of  them  in  their  helpless  condition  decided  to 
try  Christian  Science.  One  young  man  had 
suffered  for  about  two  years  from  traumatic 
disease  of  the  knee-joint.  This  joint  was 
very  much  enlarged  and  the  various  com- 
ponent parts  were  little  else  than  a  mass  of 
pulpy  swelling.  The  surgeons  in  the  infirm- 
ary he  was  attending,  told  him  that  the  only 
cure  was  excision  of  the  whole  joint,  bringing 
the  healthy  upper  and  lower  parts  of  the  limb 
together  and  letting  them  unite,  leaving  him 


76  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

with  a  leg  shortened  by  several  inches  and 
stiff.  We,  surgeons,  considered  this  course 
as  a  practical  success,  but  the  patient  felt  he 
would  Hke  to  keep  his  whole  limb,  and  there- 
fore turned  to  those  who  held  out  hope  to 
him.  He  consulted  a  Christian  Science  prac- 
titioner and  was  absolutely  healed  there  and 
then.  I  myself  personally  examined  this 
joint  the  day  before  and  the  day  after  his 
healing,  and  can  testify  to  the  condition  and 
to  the  complete  healing  resulting  from  one 
Christian  Science  treatment. 

"A  patient  had  been  under  my  care,  more 
or  less,  for  over  six  years,  suffering  from  or- 
ganic disease  of  the  valves  of  the  heart, 
steadily  growing  worse  most  of  the  time. 
The  last  attack  had  nearly  proved  fatal.  This 
was  another  case  of  rapid  healing  when 
Christian  Science  was  tried.  One  day  she 
was  going  about  in  a  bath-chair,  the  next 
working  hard  from  early  morning  in  her  own 
cottage  home." 

At  the  time  Dr.  Wilding  made  this  state- 
ment, the  woman  had  been  in  the  enjoyment 
of  perfect  health  for  six  years,  working  hard 
every  day. 

Dr.  Wilding,  after  observing  that  he  could 
cite  numerous  other  cases  of  similar  healing 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        y^ 

of  organic  troubles,  gives  the  following  in- 
teresting case  which  came  under  his  personal 
observation  a  year  and  a  half  after  he  had 
become  convinced  of  the  power  of  Christian 
Science  to  cure  all  manner  of  disease.  Every 
step  of  the  following  case,  he  declares, 
"passed  under  my  personal  observation." 

"The  patient  suffered  for  twenty  years 
from  a  form  of  paralysis  and  most  of  the  time 
losing  more  and  more  control  of  her  Hmbs, 
the  latter  eight  years  being  completely  par- 
alyzed in  the  lower  limbs,  and  partially  in  the 
arms,  and  she  was  so  helpless  that  others  had 
to  carry  her  downstairs  to  her  couch  or  bath- 
chair  in  the  morning,  and  upstairs  to  bed  at 
night,  when  she  was  even  well  enough  to 
leave  her  bed  at  all. 

"The  attending  medical  man  at  this  period, 
when  asked  his  opinion  of  the  future  progress 
of  the  disease,  repHed  plainly  in  effect,  that 
there  was  no  hope  of  any  cure,  but  a  very 
grave  fear  that  she  would  steadily  grow- 
worse  and  that  a  fatal  termination  in  the  near 
future  was  not  at  all  improbable — and  then 
he  followed  this  up  with  a  strong  recom- 
mendation to  her  to  try  Christian  Science, 
because  he  had  known  of  a  case  in  his  own 
practice  of  partial  spinal  paralysis  being 
healed  by  this  treatment. 


78  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

"The  patient,  after  consulting  with  her  re- 
latives and  also  with  the  one  healed  by  Chris- 
tian Science,  to  whom  her  doctor  had  re- 
ferred, applied  for  Christian  Science  treat- 
ment. 

"During  the  first  treatment  given,  the 
Christian  Scientist  had  the  joy  of  witnessing 
the  active  return  of  movement  in  the  par- 
alyzed limbs,  at  first  in  an  involuntary  and 
uncontrollable  swinging  of  the  legs  under 
the  bed  clothes.  There  had  been  no  move- 
ment of  these  limbs  for  nearly  eight  years. 
In  the  early  morning  after  the  Scientist's 
visit,  which  had  been  paid  in  the  evening,  the 
patient  made  her  sister  get  up,  light  the  gas 
and  help  her  out  of  bed,  saying  she  'felt  sure 
she  could  walk.'  She  arose  and  walked 
around  her  bed.  Their  great  joy  may  be 
imagined. 

"The  healing  was  so  rapid  that  in  two  or 
three  days  she  was  able  to  go  out,  walking 
about  the  town." 

We  next  invite  the  attention  of  our  readers 
to  some  extremely  interesting  and  valuable 
data  furnished  by  another  physician,  whose 
thorough  medical  education,  experience  as 
instructor  in  a  leading  medical  college,  prac- 
tice in  one  of  the  largest  hospitals  of  the  con- 


A   THERAPEUTIC    AGENT        79 

tinent,  and  extensive  private  practice  render 
him  especially  well  qualified,  from  a  regular 
view-point  to  accurately  diagnose  disease. 
Moreover,  the  special  cases  here  given  can- 
not fail  to  command  the  consideration  of  un- 
biased and  thoughtful  people,  because,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  opinions  of  an  eminent  expert 
diagnostician,  the  general  facts  observable 
by  lay  attendants  and  friends  who  were  cog- 
nizant of  them  are  substantiated  by  affidavits 
from  these  parties.  Before  giving  this  report, 
however,  a  few  words  in  regard  to  Dr. 
Edmund  F.  Burton,  who  furnishes  this  data, 
will  be  interesting. 

Dr.  Burton  graduated  from  the  Rush 
Medical  College  of  Chicago,  Illinois.  He 
served  an  interneship  of  eighteen  months  in 
Cook  County  Hospital  of  Chicago.  After  his 
interneship  he  was  appointed  a  member  of 
the  surgical  consulting  staff  of  the  same  hos- 
pital. He  was  also  appointed  instructor  in 
the  Rush  Medical  College.  Both  these  posi- 
tions he  held  until  he  was  compelled  to  leave 
the  north  on  account  of  the  rapid  inroads 
made  upon  his  health  by  tuberculosis  of  the 
lungs.  He  first  went  to  Arizona,  and  later 
to  Los  Angeles,  California.  While  in  Arizona 
he  served  as  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the 


8o  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

United  States  Marine  Hospital  Service.  In 
reporting  on  his  condition  after  the  develop- 
ment of  consumption,  prior  to  his  leaving 
Chicago,  Dr.  Burton  says : 

"1  was  obliged,  on  account  of  tuberculosis 
of  the  lungs,  to  abandon  my  medical  practice 
in  Chicago  and  go  to  Arizona,  where  it  was 
hoped,  against  expectation,  by  those  who  ad- 
vised this  move  that  the  disease  might  be 
overcome ;  but  the  prognosis  was  that  I  would 
not  live  more  than  a  few  months.  I  myself 
had  discovered  accidentally  the  presence  of 
the  disease  more  than  a  year  before  the  time 
of  leaving  Chicago,  but  had  delayed  following 
the  advice  which  I  would  have  given  to  any 
one  else,  partly  with  the  hope  that  I  could 
overcome  the  trouble  without  the  aid  of  a 
more  favorable  climate  and  partly  through 
dread  of  the  life  at  a  consumptive  resort. 
However,  during  the  last  two  months  preced- 
ing my  leaving  for  Arizona  the  hemorrhages 
became  so  frequent  and  profuse  that  it  was 
no  longer  possible  for  me  to  go  on  with  my 
work,  and  I  accepted  what  seemed  to  be  the 
inevitable.  During  the  year  previous  to  my 
leaving  Chicago  I  had  been  depending  upon 
alcohol  and  opium  in  different  forms  to  con- 
trol as  far  as  possible  the  symptoms  of  the 
lung  trouble." 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        8i 

Later,  Dr.  Burton,  as  have  so  many  physi- 
cians in  like  condition,  resorted  to  cocaine 
to  stimulate  the  faculties  drugged  and 
drowsed  by  morphine,  in  order  to  enable  him 
to  continue  his  practice.  Finally  the  stomach 
refused  to  assimilate  food,  and  there  was 
added  to  other  troubles  a  complete  nervous 
break-down.  The  doctor's  Hfe  was  despaired 
of.  So  certainly,  indeed,  did  death  in  the 
near  future  appear  inevitable,  that  a  local 
hospital  refused  to  take  the  patient,  and 
preparations  were  being  made  to  remove  the 
supposedly  dying  man  to  a  state  institution. 
There  was  a  period  of  unconsciousness,  re- 
ports Dr.  Burton,  of  more  than  forty-eight 
hours,  after  which  a  "number  of  physicians 
who  had  known  me  for  several  months,  in 
consultation  pronounced  me  incurable,  and 
told  my  friends  that  I  had  from  a  few  days  to 
a  few  weeks  to  live.  A  private  sanitarium 
to  which  my  wife  applied  refused  to  admit 
me  on  account  of  the  hopelessness  of  the 
case.     .     .     . 

"During  the  evening  following  this  ver- 
dict a  lady  suggested  with  much  trepidation 
the  advisability  of  calling  a  Christian  Science 
practitioner,  and  my  wife  consented  that  this 
be  done,  not  with  a  feeling  that  anything 


82  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

could  be  accomplished,  but  in  the  same  spirit 
of  desperation  in  which  any  other  harmless 
although  probably  useless  thing  would  have 
been  allowed.  A  practitioner  came  and  re- 
mained with  me  three  hours.  At  the  end  of 
the  first  hour  I  was  sleeping  quietly,  and 
when  I  woke  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing it  was  with  a  clear  mind  and  the  absolute 
conviction,  which  has  not  changed  since,  that 
I  was  free  and  well.  I  asked  what  had  been 
done  for  me,  insisting  that  a  radical  change 
had  taken  place  in  my  physical  and  mental 
condition.  Naturally  the  conviction  that  I 
had  been  healed  came  very  slowly  to  those 
about  me,  and  it  was  months  before  it  was 
fully  acknowledged,  but  to  me  there  was 
such  a  mental  change  that  from  the  first 
there  was  no  room  for  doubt.  There  is  no 
need  here  to  give  figures,  although  I  shall 
be  glad  to  do  so  privately  to  any  one,  physi- 
cian or  layman,  but  I  will  say  that  so  far  as 
I  know  there  is  no  instance  in  medical  litera- 
ture of  the  recovery  of  any  one  taking  the 
amount  of  these  drugs  which  I  was  taking  up 
to  the  time  referred  to.  And  to  one  who 
knows  the  state  of  the  nervous  system  and  of 
the  digestive  organs  which  exists  in  such 
cases,  it  is  stating  it  mildly  to  say  that  the 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        83 

most  remarkable  feature  of  the  cure  was 
that  there  was  no  period  of  convalescence. 
From  the  time  of  my  waking  on  the  morning 
following  the  treatment  there  was  no  ner- 
vousness or  twitching,  sleep  was  natural  and 
quiet,  appetite  healthy,  digestive  functions  all 
in  good  working  order,  and  mind  clear  and 
composed.  The  same  afternoon  I  drove  my 
automobile  for  two  hours  without  weariness 
or  excitement  of  any  kind.  During  the  fol- 
lowing thirty  days  I  gained  thirty  pounds  in 
weight.  Within  ten  days  of  the  time  that  I 
was  pronounced  incurable,  I  undertook  a 
most  arduous  trip  across  the  Nevada  desert, 
where  unusual  endurance  and  physical 
strength  were  absolutely  necessary,  and  I 
found  that  I  had  an  abundance  of  both. 
Moreover,  from  the  day  of  the  treatment  to 
the  present  time  [a  period  of  over  six  years] 
there  has  never  been  any  desire  for  alcohol, 
opium  in  any  form,  cocaine,  or  any  other 
stimulant  or  drug. 

"Two  months  later  I  was  able  to  lay  aside 
glasses,  which  I  had  been  obliged  to  wear 
constantly  for  several  years  on  account  of 
compound  astigmatism,  and  my  vision  since 
has  been  such  that  there  has  been  no  need 


84  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

to  use  them.  About  the  same  time  and  with- 
out any  feeling  of  inconvenience  I  was  able 
to  abandon  the  habit  of  smoking,  which  I 
acquired  in  early  boyhood  and  with  which  I 
had  had  many  a  hard  and  unsuccessful 
struggle. 

"I  was  forced  by  my  own  healing  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  a  power  in  Chris- 
tian Science  of  which  I  had  never  taken  ac- 
count. My  own  changed  condition  convinced 
me  that  there  was  something  in  the  system, 
and  I  was  determined  to  find  out  what  it  was, 
although  I  had  no  thought  at  that  time  that 
it  could  take  me  out  of  my  profession." 

Last  winter  a  magazine  published  a  paper 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Burton,  in  which,  after 
giving  a  detailed  statement  of  his  wonderful 
cure,  he  cited  some  remarkable  cases  that  had 
come  under  his  own  observation,  involving 
the  cure  of  organic  troubles  through  Chris- 
tian Science.  This  article  called  forth  the 
following  letter  from  one  of  the  leading  Bos- 
ton physicians : 

''Dear  Dr.  Burton  : 

"i.  What  was  the  'broken  bone  restored 
to  normal  condition  and  function  within  a 


A   THERAPEUTIC    AGENT         85 

few  hours'?  (Midwestern,  February,  1908, 
p.  98). 

''2.  What  was  the  patient's  name  and  ad- 
dress ? 

"3.  To  what  witnesses  can  you  refer  me  on 
this  case  ?  Will  you  give  me  similar  informa- 
tion regarding  the  'congenital  deformity'  in 
a  child  five  years?    (See  same  reference.) 

"What  are  the  names  and  addresses  of  the 
'best  medical  talent'  who  diagnosed  the  case 
of  cancer  referred  to  in  the  next  sentence  of 
the  article  referred  to  ? 

"If  we  can  all  of  us  get  proof  of  these 
statements  we  must  all  become  Christian 
Scientists.  It  seems  to  me  therefore  only 
fair  that  you  should  let  us  have  the  proof  of 
these  facts,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  be  will- 
ing to  oblige  me  in  this  matter." 

In  reply  to  the  above,  Dr.  Burton  wrote  at 
length.  That  portion  of  the  letter  bearing 
on  the  cases  in  question  we  reproduce  in  full, 
together  with  the  statements  and  affidavits 
of  outside  parties  cognizant  of  the  facts  in- 
volved. 

'  'My  Dear  Doctor  : 

"Replying  to  your  favor,  would  say  that  I 
am  glad  to  give  you  the  information  for  which 


86  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

you  ask.  .  .  .  You  may  be  sure,  how- 
ever, that  I  appreciate  your  inability  to  un- 
derstand such  healing,  in  surgical  cases 
especially,  but  to  refuse  to  believe  on  testi- 
mony even  where  one  fails  to  understand  is 
not  the  position  of  investigators  to-day. 

"The  ^broken  bone  restored  to  normal  con- 
dition' was  in  the  arm  of  my  wife.  There  was 
fracture  of  the  olecranon  and  backward  dis- 
location of  the  elbow  joint.  The  examination 
was  made  by  myself  about  an  hour  after  the 
accident,  and  was  made  most  carefully,  since 
it  was  my  wife's  desire  that  the  healing  should 
be  left  to  Christian  Science,  and  I  made  sure 
of  the  condition  to  be  met,  from  a  surgical 
standpoint.  I  might  refer  you  to  Drs.  Frank 
Billings,  J.  B.  Murphy  and  James  Nevins 
Hyde  of  Chicago,  with  whose  names  you  are 
familiar,  and  who  will,  I  think,  tell  you  that 
my  diagnosis  of  such  a  case  can  be  relied  upon 
— at  least  they  will  agree  that  it  could  be  re- 
lied upon  before  I  became  a  Christian  Scien- 
tist, and  there  is  nothing  in  that  teaching  to 
lead  one  to  have  less  regard  for  the  truth 
than  otherwise. 

"As  witness  of  the  accident  and  its  results, 
I  refer  you  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tully  Marshall, 
who  can  be  reached  at  the  Astor  Theatre, 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        87 

New  York,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  W.  Clawson, 
Pacific  Electric  Building,  Los  Angeles. 

"There  was  no  manual  reduction  of  the  dis- 
location or  fracture  and  no  dressing  or  splint 
of  any  kind  applied.  Thirty  hours  later  there 
was  no  sign  of  dislocation  or  fracture,  Mrs. 
Burton  dressed  her  own  hair  and  fastened — 
in  the  back — her  waist,  using  the  hand  of  the 
injured  arm,  and  was  about  her  usual  occu- 
pations, went  bathing  in  the  surf  and  used 
the  hand  and  arm  freely.  There  was  never 
at  any  time  enough  swelling  to  be  noticed 
without  comparison  with  the  other  arm,  al- 
though there  was  slight  discoloration  for  sev- 
eral days. 

"The  second  case  referred  to  was  that  of  a 
child  in  whom  there  was  such  deformity  as 
to  prevent  action  of  the  digestive  tract  with 
anything  like  normality.  There  never  was  an 
action  of  the  bowels  up  to  the  time  of  her 
healing.  Water  was  forced  into  the  lower 
bowel  and  simply  ran  out  without  any  sign 
of  the  slightest  bowel  action.  She  was  never 
able  to  nurse,  and  a  few  drops  of  milk  at  a 
time  were  swallowed  with  pain  and  difficulty, 
and  there  was  complaint  of  pain  in  the  stom- 
ach and  bowels  always.  At  the  time  of  her 
healing  she  could  take  a  small  glass  of  milk 


88  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

in  an  hour.  One  five-minute  treatment  re- 
sulted in  entire  removal  of  all  these  troubles, 
and  she  has  eaten,  digested  her  food  and 
evacuated  her  bowels  normally  ever  since. 
Her  mother  is  Mrs.  William  Johnson,  Holly- 
wood, California. 

"The  case  of  cancer  referred  to  is  Mrs. 
Belt,  Bellevue  Terrace  Hotel,  Los  Angeles. 
The  healing  was  done  in  November,  1906. 
Her  brother,  through  whom  it  was  done,  is 
Mr.  W.  S.  Alexander,  121  West  First  street, 
Los  Angeles.  The  case  had  been  diagnosed 
by  several  physicians  and  at  the  time  referred 
to  was  in  charge  of  Dr.  Barton  Dozier,  412 
Grant  Building,  Los  Angeles.  There  were 
all  the  classical  symptoms  and  signs  of  inop- 
erable carcinoma  of  the  stomach.  She  was 
believed  by  two  nurses  in  charge  of  her  at  the 
Clara  Barton  Hospital,  this  city,  to  have  died 
and  such  notation,  together  with  the  hour  of 
death,  was  made  by  the  head  nurse.  Her 
brother  refused  to  accept  this  verdict  and 
continued  with  Christian  Science  treatment, 
with  the  result  that  she  was  restored  to  per- 
fect health,  left  the  hospital  in  a  carriage  in 
a  few  days,  and  is  to-day  a  normally  healthy 
woman." 

Mr.  Tully  Marshall,  who  at  the  time  of 


A   THERAPEUTIC    AGENT        89 

making  this  statement  was  leading  man  at 
the  Astor  Theatre,  New  York  City,  in  an 
affidavit  dated  New  York,  March  30,  1908, 
says : 

"During  the  summer  of  1907  my  wife  and 
I  were  visiting  in  CaHfornia,  and  on  the  first 
day  of  July  of  that  year  were  bathing  in  the 
surf  with  some  friends  at  Ocean  Park,  Cali- 
fornia. My  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Alberta  N. 
Burton,  wife  of  Dr.  Edmund  F.  Burton  of 
Los  Angeles,  was  bathing  with  us  on  that 
occasion. 

"The  surf  was  unusually  rough,  and  in 
battling  with  the  waves  my  sister-in-law  was 
thrown  violently,  being  struck  suddenly  by  a 
more  than  usually  heavy  wave.  She  instinc- 
tively threw  out  her  left  arm  to  save  herself, 
and  in  falling  struck  heavily  on  this  arm. 

"My  wife  and  I  went  to  her  assistance  and 
helped  her  to  our  house  where  on  examina- 
tion it  was  found  that  her  left  arm  was  rap- 
idly swelling,  the  pain  also  being  most  in- 
tense. She  was  unable  to  raise  the  arm  at  all. 
I  could  see  plainly  that  the  elbow  was  dislo- 
cated, although  I  did  not  know  at  the  time 
that  the  elbow  joint  could  only  be  thrown  out 
in  the  manner  which  I  have  described  by  the 
breaking  ofif  of  a  hook-like  bone  which  forms 
part  of  the  socket. 


90  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

"Within  an  hour  after  the  accident,  Dr. 
Burton  took  the  case  and  treated  it  through 
Christian  Science.  While  the  severe  pain  was 
not  relieved  at  once,  the  patient  was  able  to 
sit  up  and  eat  her  dinner,  and  moreover,  slept 
quietly  that  night  from  eleven  o'clock  until 
the  following  morning. 

"Within  three  days  my  sister's-in-law  arm 
was,  to  all  intents,  well,  and  she  went  with  us 
to  a  picnic,  and  went  in  bathing  again  with  us. 

"In  less  than  a  week  she  was  able  to  play 
on  the  piano  (of  which  she  is  an  enthusiastic 
devotee),  and  was  able  to  dress  herself  com- 
pletely without  assistance  and  to  attend  to  all 
her  daily  affairs  as  usual. 

"During  this  period  the  arm  was  discolored 
(inside  particularly)  from  the  wrist  nearly  to 
the  shoulder,  the  darkest  patches  being  near- 
est the  elbow  where  the  ligaments  had  been 
torn  loose.  This  discoloration  disappeared 
within  a  few  days  from  the  time  of  the  acci- 
dent and  the  arm  was  as  well  as  the  other,  in 
every  respect,  the  healing  being  complete. 

"It  seems  only  fair  to  add  that  I  have  been 
since  told  by  surgeons  that  with  the  best 
surgical  attention  such  a  fracture  leaves  a 
more  or  less  stiffened  arm,  but  in  this  case 
there  were  no  such  effects. 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT        91 

''I  wish  to  reiterate  that  I  was  not  only 
present  at  the  time  of  the  accident,  but  that 
subsequent  thereto  my  sister-in-law  was  un- 
der my  close  and  (it  must  be  confessed) 
skeptical  observation,  as  my  wife  and  I  were 
then  living  in  the  same  house  with  her. 

"At  that  time  I  was  disposed  to  criticise 
the  methods  employed  to  relieve  my  sister- 
in-law,  feeling  convinced  that  the  bone  should 
be  set  or  the  arm  at  least  bandaged,  and  car- 
ried in  a  sling  as  is  usually  done  in  such  cases. 
However,  in  this  instance,  the  results  dis- 
armed all  criticism,  the  healing  being  com- 
plete.'' 

Mrs.  Marion  Marshall,  in  an  affidavit  made 
the  same  day,  says  she  has  read  her  hus- 
band's statement,  is  familiar  with  all  the  facts 
set  forth  in  his  affidavit  and  declares  that  the 
same  are  true  of  her  own  knowledge. 

The  statement  made  by  Mrs.  Alice  Higgin- 
botham  Johnson,  of  Hollywood,  California, 
in  respect  to  the  second  case,  that  of  a  child, 
cited  by  Dr.  Burton,  declares  that  her  daugh- 
ter from  birth  "showed  evidence  of  an  ab- 
normality in  the  digestive  tract,  manifested 
by  great  difficulty  in  swallowing,  signs  of 
pain  in  the  stomach  and  bowels,  and  lack  of 
bowel  movement.    Swallowing  seemed  to  be 


92  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

accompanied  by  pain  in  the  throat  and  was 
frequently  impossible,  the  food  not  being 
passed  at  all,  but  lodging  in  the  mouth  or 
throat  and  ejected  later  or  at  once.  A  glass 
of  milk  fed  her  with  a  spoon  required  from 
one  to  two  hours  to  be  swallowed,  even  up 
to  the  time  when  she  was  relieved  of  the  con- 
dition in  September,  1907. 

"In  September,  1907,  she  received  a  single 
treatment  from  a  Christian  Science  practi- 
tioner. This  was  followed  at  once  by  the  dis- 
appearance of  all  of  these  conditions.  Bread 
and  milk  were  swallowed  freely  within  a  few 
minutes;  the  bowels  moved  naturally  within 
a  few  hours,  and  the  pain  in  the  stomach  dis- 
appeared. She  has  been  in  normally  good 
health  and  condition  since  that  time." 

Mrs.  Johnson's  account  of  her  daughter's 
healing  is  attested  by  the  child's  grand- 
mother, Mrs.  J.  I.  Shackelford. 

The  confirmatory  evidence  in  the  case  of 
Mrs.  Belt  who  was  healed  of  cancer,  is  ex- 
ceedingly interesting. 

Mrs.  Ollie  Malone  makes  the  following 
explicit  statement,  dated  Los  Angeles,  Cali- 
fornia, March  26,  1908: 

"I  hereby  certify  that  I  was  a  special  nurse 
at  the  Clara  Barton  Hospital  in  the  city  of 


A   THERAPEUTIC    AGENT        93 

Los  Angeles  at  the  time  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Belt 
was  brought  there  as  a  patient  on  or  about 
the  first  of  November,  1906.  She  was  almost 
continually  vomiting  and  suffering;  was  un- 
able to  eat  or  sleep  or  retain  anything  on  her 
stomach  for  several  days.  Her  stomach  was 
very  much  bloated,  and  she  had  been  there 
suffering  in  that  way  for  four  or  five  days ; 
phlegm,  similar  in  appearance  as  soap-suds, 
at  times  almost  filling  her  mouth  and  nos- 
trils. This  slightly  mingled  with  blood  from 
the  nose.  Her  ankles  had  both  turned  dark, 
indicating  that  congestion  had  set  in,  and  we 
were  not  expecting  her  to  live  through  the 
night. 

"About  this  time  she  was  treated  through 
Christian  Science.  Her  brother,  Mr.  W.  S. 
Alexander,  remained  at  the  hospital  with  her 
practically  all  the  time,  day  and  night,  for 
five  days.  (I  understand  there  were  two  other 
Christian  Scientists  treating  her.)  She  ap- 
peared to  rest  easier  and  not  suffering  so 
much  pain  soon  after  she  was  receiving  Chris- 
tian Science  treatment,  and  I  think  it  was  the 
second  or  third  night  after  she  was  taking 
Christian  Science  treatment,  she  appeared  to 
have  expired. 

"I    was    unable    to    locate    any   pulsation. 


94  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

This  was  about  twelve  o'clock  at  night.  I 
immediately  looked  up  the  head  nurse,  and 
she  came  to  the  room  with  me.  She  called 
Mrs.  Belt  and  then  tried  to  locate  her  pulse. 
In  the  meantime  her  mouth  had  come  open 
and  the  jaw  turned  slightly  to  one  side,  every 
symptom  and  indication  that  death  had  taken 
place,  and  the  head  nurse,  in  my  presence, 
recorded  her  death. 

"It  was  then  that  Mr.  Alexander,  her 
brother,  stooped  in  front  of  her,  and,  placing 
his  hands  to  each  side  of  her  head,  he  called 
her  by  name,  'Mary,'  the  second  time,  and 
she  opened  her  eyes,  and  breathed  a  natural 
breath,  and  that  morning  she  turned  over  on 
her  stomach  and  had  a  sleep  for  the  first 
time  while  she  was  at  the  hospital.  Within 
a  few  days  she  left  the  hospital,  and  I  regard 
it  as  miraculous  and  the  most  wonderful  case 
of  healing  through  prayer. 

"I  am  not  a  Christian  Scientist,  and  have 
told  others  of  this  wonderful  case  of  healing, 
which  I  could  never  have  believed  had  I  not 
witnessed  the  same  with  my  own  eyes." 

Mrs.  Belt's  brother,  J.  B.  Alexander,  who 
is  not  a  Christian  Scientist,  in  a  statement 
dated  Los  Angeles,  California,  April  i,  1908, 
confirms  the  account  of  Mrs.  Belt's  suffering 


A  THERAPEUTIC  AGENT         95 

and  the  characteristic  symptoms  of  her  case 
and  relates  how,  after  her  failure  to  improve 
under  the  hospital  treatment,  she  asked  her 
brother,  Scott  Alexander,  for  Christian 
Science  treatment.  Mr.  J.  B.  Alexander's 
statement  continues: 

"Her  improvement  seemed  slow.  A  couple 
of  days  after  she  had  asked  for  Christian 
Science  treatment,  when  I  called  by  as  usual, 
it  seemed  to  me  there  was  then  no  hope  for 
her.  She  conveyed  to  me  the  idea  that  she 
expected  soon  to  expire,  and  had  grasped 
my  hand,  but  my  brother  Scott  assured  us 
both  that  all  would  be  well,  and  I  was  much 
impressed  with  the  firmness  of  his  statement. 

"The  next  morning  I  called  by  I  noted  a 
marked  improvement,  and  learned  that  she 
had  for  the  first  time  in  several  days  had 
sleep.  She  soon  began  to  eat  and  relish  her 
food,  and  within  a  few  days  left  the  hospital 
very  happy.  She  soon  regained  the  flesh  she 
had  lost,  and  we  all  recognized  the  fact  that 
she  has  been  healed  through  Christian 
Science  treatment. 

"I  am  not  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Science  church,  although  the  religion  appeals 
to  me  as  beautiful  and  consistent  with  the 
Scriptures." 


96  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

Mrs.  Belt's  own  affidavit  goes  into  detail  as 
to  her  experiences  and  conditions  prior  to 
her  healing  by  Christian  Science  and  dwells 
at  length  on  her  condition  before  and  after 
taking  Christian  Science  treatment.  She  nar- 
rates how,  just  before  the  cure,  "the  phlegm, 
like  foam,  filled  my  mouth  and  nostrils,  min- 
gled with  blood,  and  I  observed  one  of  my 
ankles  quite  dark  and  blue,  and  asked  the 
nurse,  how  I  had  hurt  my  ankle.  I  then  ob- 
served the  other  ankle  was  also  dark,  and 
asked  her  what  caused  that.  Then  I  told  her 
it  was  congestion  that  had  set  in,  and  she 
stated,  'Never  mind  about  that.'  ...  I 
felt  that  death  was  near,  and  told  my  brother, 
even  if  I  died,  I  felt  that  my  soul  had  been 
saved.  I  don't  just  remember  what  expres- 
sions my  brother  made,  but  he  would  never 
admit  that  I  would  die.  He  would  tell  me 
that  life  was  spiritual  and  eternal,  that  in 
God,  in  Spirit,  we  move  and  live  and  have 
our  being,  and  similar  statements. 

"When  I  became  unconscious,  or  after  I 
had  expired,  I  do  not  know  for  how  long, 
when  I  became  aroused,  or  awoke  from  that 
condition,  I  felt  and  knew  that  I  was  healed. 
Such  a  change  had  taken  place,  and  I  was 
made  exceedingly  happy.     I  was  thirsty  and 


A   THERAPEUTIC    AGENT        97 

hungry  and  asked  for  water.  My  brother 
told  me  that  life  was  spiritual  and  not  to 
care  to  eat  or  drink  with  the  thought  before 
me,  that  it  was  necessary  for  health  and 
strength,  but  that  I  would  soon  have  a  natural 
appetite,  and  I  could  then  eat  and  drink 
whatever  I  cared  for,  and  it  would  not  hurt 
me.  I  then  told  him  I  wished  for  a  drink  of 
water,  which  was  given  me,  and  I  asked  for 
an  apple.  A  half  of  an  apple  was  found, 
which  I  relished,  and  I  turned  on  my  stomach 
and  had  a  sweet  sleep  for  the  first  time  for 
about  nine  days.  The  next  morning  my 
brother  brought  me  a  lot  of  figs  and  grapes 
and  I  had  other  things  to  eat,  and  on  that  day 
I  sat  up  in  a  chair  part  of  the  day.  The  next 
day  I  walked  about  the  place,  and  that  even- 
ing I  had  a  hearty  meal,  including  corn  bread 
and  breakfast  bacon,  and  the  next  day,  with 
others  of  the  family  and  friends  went  up  into 
the  roof-garden.  The  following  day,  my 
brother  called  by  with  a  carriage  for  me,  and 
we  enjoyed  a  long  drive. 

"I  had  been  reduced  in  weight  to  105 
pounds.  Within  a  few  months  I  regained 
my  normal  weight  of  about  145  pounds." 

It  was  our  purpose  to  cite  a  number  of  fur- 
ther interesting  and  important  cases  given  by 


98  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

other  physicians,  and  testimony  from  promi- 
nent or  well-known  individuals  relating  to 
cures  where  the  facts  in  evidence  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  the  organic  character  of  the  dis- 
eases cured.  Lack  of  space,  however,  renders 
this  impossible  at  the  present  time;  but  the 
clear,  explicit  and  unequivocal  testimony  of 
the  distinguished  English  physician  and  sur- 
geon and  that  of  the  American  physician 
whose  medical  education  and  ability  were  sig- 
nally recognized  by  his  professional  brethren 
when  he  was  made  instructor  in  his  alma 
mater  and  appointed  on  the  staff  on  one  of 
the  largest  hospitals  in  the  country,  rein- 
forced as  is  this  last  testimony  by  the  sworn 
affidavits  of  reputable  citizens  as  to  the  facts 
observable  by  those  in  attendance  on  the 
patients,  is  entitled  to  far  more  consideration 
from  impartial  truth-seekers  than  the  opin- 
ions of  doctors  who  have  made  but  superficial 
investigations  and  who  have  started  out  with 
the  conviction  that  no  organic  disease  could 
be  cured  by  Christian  Science. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MEDICAL  EXPLANATIONS  OF  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

CURES    CONSIDERED    IN    THE    LIGHT 

OF  TYPICAL   CASES 

INCE  we  founded  The  Arena  in 
the  autumn  of  1889,  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  during  the  years  when 
this  review  was  under  our  edi- 
torial management,  we  do  not  call  to  mind 
more  than  three  instances  where  a  paper  ap- 
pearing in  our  pages  called  forth  more  favor- 
able letters  or  inquiries  than  were  eHcited  by 
our  contribution  in  the  November  Arena 
of  1908  on  "  Christian  Science  and  Organic 
Disease."  Many  valued  friends  called  at  the 
office  to  discuss  its  contents,  and  from 
Canada  and  various  parts  of  the  Republic 
came  letters  expressive  of  new  and  gen- 
eral interest  in  the  subject  and  asking  for 
further  facts,  which  we  intimated  could  be 
given  in  substantiation  of  the  claims  made. 
Perhaps  the  general  tenor  of  these  letters  and 
conversations  with  interested  parties  can  best 


loo  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

be  summed  up  in  the  following  expressions 
by  two  of  our  readers. 

One  friend  said :  "  Until  reading  your 
paper  in  The  Arena  for  November,  I  had  un- 
hesitatingly accepted  the  position  which  the 
medical  profession  and  most  writers  in  the 
magazines  and  newspapers  have  assumed 
when  discussing  cures  said  to  have  been  made 
by  Christian  Science  practitioners,  — namely, 
that  the  diseases  were  not  correctly  diag- 
nosed ;  that  though  in  many  cases  there  may 
have  been  no  intention  on  the  part  of  the 
patient  to  deceive  or  falsify,  the  conclusions 
were  due  to  loose  thinking  or  '  intellectual 
mistiness  ' ;  that  though  in  many  instances  the 
cures,  as  Dr.  Cabot  observes,  doubtless  took 
place,  *  they  were  not  cures  of  organic  dis- 
ease.' I  accepted  without  question  the  opin- 
ion of  Dr.  Cabot  when  he  said,  '  In  my  own 
personal  researches  into  Christian  Science 
'^  cures,"  I  have  never  found  one  in  which 
there  was  any  good  evidence  that  cancer, 
consumption,  or  any  other  organic  disease 
had  been  arrested  or  banished.'*  Faulty  or 
incompetent  diagnosis  was  in  my  judgment 
the  first  explanation  of  the  apparent  cures 
of  organic   disease   by   Christian   Scientists. 

*Dr.  Cabot  in  JfcC^ure's  Magazine  :  quoted  in  Chapter  III 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       loi 

Secondly,  I  believed  that  the  persons  making 
the  statement,  while  probably  usually  sin- 
cere and  in  a  general  way  good  people,  were 
chiefly  ignorant  and  over-credulous,  many  of 
them  prone  to  exaggeration,  and  not  a  few 
desiring  to  pose  and  attract  attention, — some- 
thing very  common  at  the  present  day,  when 
sensationalism  is  rampant.  In  the  third  place, 
I  believed  that  whatever  real  cures  had  been 
accomplished  under  Christian  Science  treat- 
ment were  clearly  due  to  suggestion,  not  in 
nature  different  from  that  practiced  by  physi- 
cians who  employ  hypnotism,  though  in  the 
case  of  Christian  Scientists,  of  course,  the 
end  was  attained  without  hypnosis.  Your 
paper,  containing  as  it  did  the  deliberate  testi- 
mony of  two  eminent  diagnosticians,  one  an 
Englishman  and  the  other  an  American,  and 
both  men  who  had  been  signally  honored 
while  actively  practicing  medicine,  instantly 
arrested  my  attention.  The  views  of  these 
men  certainly  merited  respectful  considera- 
tion as  expert  opinions ;  and  the  amazing 
character  of  the  cures  they  recorded,  together 
with  the  clear  and  logical  manner  in  which 
the  material  was  presented,  has  compelled 
me  to  revise  my  opinions.  So  far  as  they 
went,  the  cases  as  presented  in  the  Novem- 


I02  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

ber  Arena  seemed  to  be  unanswerable;  but 
in  the  presence  of  a  world-entrenched  skep- 
ticism and  with  the  medical  profession  as 
a  whole,  and  the  clergy,  practically  a  unit  in 
opposing  the  conclusions  that  logically  fol- 
lowed the  facts  presented,  it  occurred  to  me 
that  the  cause  of  truth  would  be  greatly  fur- 
thered if  you  should  give  us  other  cases  that 
would  tend  to  confirm  the  positions  taken  in 
your  paper  on  ^Christian  Science  and  Organic 
Disease,'  and  thus  further  break  down  the 
prejudice  born  of  long-accepted  and  rarely- 
questioned  views." 

The  other  friend  also  urged  us  to  give 
additional  cases,  because,  as  he  pointed  out, 
there  is  a  vast  amount  of  literature  emanating 
from  the  other  side,  and  even  the  position 
of  the  leaders  of  the  widely-discussed  Emman- 
uel movement  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
conventional  medical  contention  that  no  or- 
ganic disease  can  be  cured  by  methods  other 
than  those  practiced  by  the  medical  fraternity. 

The  importance  of  the  subject,  the  general 
interest  in  our  previous  paper,  and  the  rea- 
sons urged  by  our  friends,  have  led  us  to 
conclude  that  a  further  citation  of  typical 
cases  might  be  helpful  in  stimulating  that 
thorough  investigation  which  truth  challenges 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       103 

and  which  all  theories,  opinions  or  truths  not 
generally  accepted  must  encounter  before 
the  barriers  of  prejudice,  conservative 
thought  and  preconceived  ideas  are  broken 
down.  We  therefore  invite  our  readers'  at- 
tention to  a  further  examination,  in  which  the 
three  popular  views  advanced  by  the  medical 
profession  and  the  critics  of  Christian  Science 
will  be  considered  in  the  light  of  certain  facts 
which  will  tend  to  test  their  validity  and 
answer  the  question  as  to  w^hether  they  are 
sufficient  to  explain  the  vast  and  rapidly 
growing  volume  of  alleged  cures  of  persons 
on  whom,  in  many  instances,  physicians  have 
passed  the  death  sentence. 

The  three  principal  replies  or  explanations 
vouchsafed  when  claims  of  cures  of  organic 
disease  are  made  by  friends  of  Christian 
Science,  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as  fol- 
lows: 

(i)  Inaccurate  or  faulty  diagnosis,  made 
by  the  patients  instead  of  by  competent  phy- 
sicians. 

(2)  That  those  making  the  claims  or  re- 
markable cures  were  persons  of  unschooled 
minds,  not  trained  to  sift  evidence  or  to  con- 
sider matters  judicially;  that  they  were  fre- 
quently not  only  unscientific  in  their  pro- 


104  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

cesses  of  reasoning,  but  over-credulous  and 
prone  to  exaggeration. 

(3)  Where  cures  were  effected,  they  have 
been  of  merely  functional  disorders  and  have 
been  the  result  of  suggestion,  essentially  sim- 
ilar in  character  to  that  employed  by  hypno- 
tists, though  the  results  were  obtained  with- 
out throwing  the  subject  into  a  sleep. 

With  these  explanations  in  mind,  we  invite 
the  readers'  consideration  to  the  detailed  his- 
tory of  a  case  that  in  many  respects  is  the 
most  notable  instance  of  cure  in  the  annals  of 
modern  heaHng, — a  case  rendered  doubly 
valuable  as  an  illustration  because  of  the  sup- 
posed incurable  character  of  the  disease  and 
the  fact  that  from  the  view-point  of  materia 
medica  the  question  of  diagnosis  leaves  noth- 
ing to  be  desired.  The  history  of  the  case 
by  the  physician  in  Chicago,  up  to  the  time 
when  Christian  Science  stepped  in,  is  on 
record  in  probably  the  most  authoritative 
regular  medical  journal  in  the  New  World; 
while  the  story  of  the  rescue  of  the  medically- 
doomed  invalid  from  darkness  and  despair, 
from  untold  agony  and  impending  death,  to 
perfect  health  under  Christian  Science,  is 
here  given  as  narrated  by  the  husband  of  the 
patient  as  clearly  and  comprehensively  as  the 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      105 

downward  course  of  the  unfortunate  woman's 
health  under  the  care  of  eminent  medical  men 
was  given  by  one  of  their  own  number. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  for  July  27,  1907,  is  found  the 
following  paper  which  we  republish  entire 
because  of  the  importance  of  the  facts  in  con- 
nection with  the  question  we  are  now  consid- 
ering. The  paper  is  contributed  to  the 
/oufnal  by  James  B.  Herrick,  M.  D.,  of  Chi 
cago,  Illinois. 

"  The  following  case  is  reported  because  it 
is,  I  believe,  the  first  instance  recorded  of 
recovery  from  generalized  blastomycosis.  It 
is  worthy  of  note  also  that  the  patient  was  a 
woman  and  of  the  better  class.  Blastomy- 
cosis in  women  is  apparently  a  rarity.  The 
patient  was  under  the  care  of  Dr.  A.  C. 
Garvy,  with  whom  I  saw  her  many  times. 
This  preliminary  report  is  made  with  the 
kind  consent  of  Dr.  Garvy,  who  will  later 
present  a  more  detailed  history  of  the  case. 
It  should  encourage  one  in  the  persistent 
treatment  of  blastomycosis  even  of  the  gen- 
eralized type,  as  it  shows  that  a  certain  per- 
centage, probably  a  small  one,  may  terminate 
in  healing. 

''History  —  The    patient    was   Mrs.  O.,  24 


io6  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

years  of  age,  for  at  least  15  years  a  resident 
of  Chicago,  of  healthy,  well-to-do  parents, 
and  with  no  severe  preceding  illness  except 
the  usual  diseases  of  childhood,  and  nervous 
disturbances,  largely  hysterical,  in  1899.  She 
had  been  married  eighteen  months  and  was 
the  mother  of  a  healthy  child  three  months 
old,  which  she  was  nursing  at  the  time  she 
was  taken  ill. 

"  April  24,  1904,  the  illness  began,  to  quote 
her  own  words,  '  with  spots  like  hives  and 
pains  like  rheumatism/  The  first  lesions 
were  noticed  over  the  left  gluteal  region. 
There  was  no  fever  at  first,  at  least  none  that 
attracted  attention,  and  the  general  health 
was  not  impaired  for  several  weeks.  The 
illness  lasted  for  two  years,  and  during  this 
time  there  were  seventy-nine  distinct  lesions. 
These  varied  in  size  from  those  i  cm.  in 
diameter  to  areas  8  cm.  or  more  broad.  They 
started  as  slightly  reddish  or  purplish  spots, 
showing  through  the  skin  or  felt  deep  in  the 
subcutaneous  tissue.  They  gradually  became 
more  prominent,  somewhat  hard  and  tender, 
and  a  pseudo  fluctuation  or  a  genuine  fluctu- 
ation appearing,  the  lesions  would  break 
through  the  skin,  discharging  a  thick,  yellow- 
ish pus,  or  they  would  be  opened  by  the  phy- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      107 

sician ;  in  a  few  instances  spontaneous  resolu- 
tion without  rupture  occurred.  After  the 
evacuation  of  the  pus  a  somewhat  indolent 
granulating  ulcer  would  be  left,  and  there  was 
often  an  extensive  undermining  of  the  skin, 
with  burrowing  of  the  pus.  This  was  par- 
ticularly marked  over  the  left  gluteal  region 
where  the  deep  situation  of  the  abscess  and 
its  great  size  necessitated  a  drainage  opera- 
tion under  anesthesia,  which  was  done  by 
Dr.  J.  B.  Murphy,  May  12,  1905.  This 
abscess  had  its  origin  in  the  deeper  struc- 
tures, apparently  in  the  pelvis.  The  lesions 
in  some  instances,  as  on  one  of  the  fingers, 
destroyed  the  bone.  On  healing  they  left 
comparatively  slight  scars  that  in  their 
parchment-like  feel  somewhat  resembled 
those  of  lues.  Lues  in  the  husband  as  well 
as  in  the  patient  were  carefully  excluded. 

''^Course  of  the  Disease  —  The  general 
condition  of  the  patient  during  the  two  years 
of  illness  varied  very  materially.  Most  of  the 
time  there  was  a  slight  temperature,  with 
occasional  exacerbations,  when  it  would 
reach  102°  or  103°.  The  pulse  was  generally 
rapid,  a  hemic  murmur  present  and  the  spleen 
palpable.  Early  in  the  illness  there  was  a 
cough,  and  Dr.  Garvy  thought  he  detected 


io8  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

signs  of  slight  consolidation  at  the  right 
apex.  When  I  saw  her  I  could  make  out  no 
evidence  of  pulmonary  lesion;  at  this  time 
there  was  no  cough.  The  urine  showed  an 
occasional  trace  of  febrile  ( ?)  albumin.  There 
was  marked  loss  in  weight  and  a  secondary 
anemia.  The  hemoglobin  at  one  time  was  as 
low  as  50  per  cent. ;  an  increase  in  the  leuco- 
cytes was  commonly  present.  At  the  time 
of  the  operation  by  Dr.  Murphy  the  condi- 
tion was  so  aggravated  that  it  was  thought 
she  would  die  upon  the  table.  There  was 
generally  more  or  less  disturbance  of  the 
stomach.  At  times  the  pain  was  extreme  and 
the  patient  was  always  decidedly  neurotic  and 
even  hysterical.  This  interfered  very  much 
with  her  sleep. 

"^  Treatment  —  The  medication  consisted 
of  iodide  of  potassium,  often  in  increasingly 
large  doses.  This  seemed  to  benefit  her  de- 
cidedly, but  there  was  never  a  complete  heal- 
ing of  all  the  lesions  and  the  iodide  often  had 
to  be  stopped  because  of  gastric  distress  oc- 
casioned by  its  prolonged  use.  The  sulphate 
of  copper  was  tried  internally  and  locally,  but 
with  very  doubtful  benefit.  Tonics  and  seda- 
tives were  given  as  indicated,  the  latter  being 
of  necessity  used  with  a  free  hand. 


A  THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      109 

'  ''Recovery.  —  In  February,  1906,  the 
patient  left  for  California,  weighing  about 
100  pounds  instead  of  her  original  130  pounds 
or  more.  There  were  still  thirty-one  sores  on 
the  body.  The  patient  became  quieter  and 
less  nervous,  lived  much  of  the  time  out  of 
doors,  began  to  sleep  well,  to  improve  as  re- 
gards appetite,  and  there  was  soon  a  very 
decided  tendency  to  healing  of  the  sores.  No 
medicine  was  taken  after  March  23,  1906.  In 
August,  1906,  the  last  sore  had  disappeared. 
I  have  seen  the  patient  several  times  since 
and  she  is  apparently,  at  the  date  of  this  writ- 
ing, July  12,  1907,  in  perfect  health.  She 
writes  me  under  recent  date. — '  I  am  better 
now  than  I  have  ever  been  in  my  whole  Hfe, 
and  can  endure  anything  and  never  have  an 
ache  or  pain.' 

'-^Diagnosis  —  The  diagnosis  of  blastomy- 
cosis was  made,  not  only  on  the  clinical 
symptoms,  including  the  naked  eye  appear- 
ance of  the  lesions  and  the  exclusion  of  other 
diseases,  tuberculosis,  syphiHs,  etc.,  but  by 
the  microscopic  examination  of  the  pus  from 
the  wounds  with  a  cultural  development  of 
the  blastomyces.  The  culture  experiments 
were  made  by  Dr.  Oliver  Ormsby.  The 
patient  was  seen  at  various    times    by    Drs. 


no  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

James  Nevins  Hyde,  Joseph  Zeisler  and  J.  B. 
Murphy.  They  agreed  in  the  diagnosis  of 
generalized  blastomycosis." 

Here  we  have  contributed,  by  a  high  medi- 
cal authority,  the  history  of  this  remarkable 
case  of  a  supposed  incurable  ailment;  the 
terrible  progress  of  the  disease ;  the  apparent 
approaching  fatal  termination ;  the  statement 
of  recovery,  carrying  a  wholly  inaccurate  im- 
pression, it  being  an  example  of  Hamlet  with 
the  Prince  left  out;  and  the  diagnosis  of  the 
case.  The  latter  is  so  complete  that  it  ought 
to  leave  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  medical 
profession  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  diagnosis, 
if  any  faith  is  ever  to  be  placed  in  medical 
diagnosis. 

Now  comes  the  history  of  the  cure ;  and  in 
passing  let  us  say  that  this  article  was  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  David  Oliver  of  Chicago,  the 
husband  of  the  patient  whose  case  has  been 
so  carefully  diagnosed,  to  be  published  in  a 
magazine  that  had  printed  an  article  from  an 
eminent  doctor  in  which  he  claimed  that 
Christian  Science  had  never  cured  a  case  of 
organic  disease ;  but  the  magazine  refused  to 
publish  this  plain  statement  of  facts.  It  was 
later  given  by  Mr.  Oliver  for  publication  in 
the  Christian  Science  Sentinel. 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      iii 

"The  writer  begs  to  take  issue  with  a  state- 
ment which  appeared  several  months  ago  in 
one  of  our  leading  magazines,  in  which  a 
doctor  claimed  that  in  his  personal  research 
into  Christian  Science  cures  he  had  never 
found  one  case  in  which  there  was  any  good 
evidence  that  cancer,  consumption,  or  any 
other  organic  disease  had  been  arrested  or 
banished,  and  that  the  diagnosis  was  either 
made  by  the  patient  himself,  or  was  an  inter- 
pretation at  second  hand  of  what  a  doctor 
was  supposed  to  have  said.  The  writer  has 
not  made  a  personal  research,  but  has  come 
'  face  to  face  '  with  a  case  of  so-called  organic 
disease,  which  he  is  fully  convinced  was  cured 
in  Christian  Science,  in  spite  of  any  opinions 
which  may  be  held  by  physicians  and  others 
to  the  contrary. 

"  An  article  appeared  in  the  American  Med- 
ical Association  Journal,  under  date  of  July 
2y,  1907,  which  gave  a  complete  statement  of 
the  case  to  which  reference  is  made.  By  way 
of  explanation  it  may  be  said  that  according 
to  medical  opinion  blastomycosis  is  a  so- 
called  organic  disease,  as  unsightly  as  leprosy 
and  as  painful  as  any  form  of  rheumatic 
trouble  known  to  sufifering  mortals.  To  im- 
press one  with  the  severity  of  this  case,  it 


112  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

may  be  noted  that  the  knife  was  used  some 
eighty  odd  times,  and  that  up  to  the  present 
time  there  has  never  been  a  positive  cure  of 
such  a  case  known  in  the  history  of  medicine. 
It  may  also  be  of  interest  to  know  that  the 
patient  suffered  from  this  terrible  disease 
for  over  two  years,  and  was  treated  by  a  num- 
ber of  eminent  physicians,  and  that  they 
agreed  upon  the  diagnosis  of  the  case  as 
given  in  the  medical  journal  already  named. 
The  writer  of  this  testimony  is  the  husband 
of  the  patient,  and  the  facts  herein  related 
can  be  substantiated  by  any  of  the  medical 
doctors  who  attended  the  case.  The  article 
referred  to  would  give  one  the  impression 
that  the  '  out-of-door  '  life  in  sunny  California 
had  a  decided  tendency  toward  the  healing  of 
this  case,  but  the  facts  are  that  the  weather 
during  the  patient's  stay  in  California  was 
rainy  and  disagreeable,  which  confined  her  to 
the  house  during  her  entire  stay,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  hours  which  were  spent  upon 
the  porch. 

"  The  patient  was  taken  ill  the  latter  part 
of  May,  1904,  and  was  not  able  to  leave  her 
bed  except  for  a  short  period  until  taken  to 
California  in  February,  1906.  Upon  her  ar- 
rival in  Los  Angeles,  she  was  refused  admis- 


A  THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       113 

sion  to  all  hotels,  hospitals,  and  sanitariums, 
nor  was  it  possible  to  lease  a  house  after  the 
owner  has  ascertained  the  nature  of  the 
disease.  At  last,  as  a  final  resort,  it  became 
necessary  to  purchase  a  house  for  her  shelter. 
A  remarkable  coincidence  happened  in  the 
purchase  of  that  house.  After  being  turned 
from  door  to  door,  it  certainly  seemed  a  mira- 
cle to  have  the  owner  of  that  house  recom- 
mend Christian  Science,  though  she  herself 
was  not  a  Scientist.  Like  all  others  who 
have  had  to  be  driven  into  the  acceptance  of 
the  truth,  my  wife  scorned  the  idea  of  being 
cured  in  Christian  Science,  until  she  was  told 
point-blank  by  her  Los  Angeles  physician 
that  her  place  was  at  home,  where  she  could 
'  die  among  her  friends.'  Then  came  the  reso- 
lution to  accept  the  truth,  and  she  did  so 
right  there  and  then.  The  physician  was  dis- 
missed in  the  forenoon  and  a  Christian 
Science  practitioner  called  in  the  afternoon. 
Up  to  that  time  the  patient  had  had  little  or 
no  natural  sleep  during  the  entire  illness,  and 
had,  during  the  past  several  weeks,  retained 
none  of  her  food.  At  this  time  she  weighed 
less  than  ninety  pounds,  her  normal  weight 
being  over  one  hundred  and  thirty.  The 
rapidity  of  her  progress  under  Christian  Sci- 


114  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

ence  treatment  was  almost  phenomenal  and 
unless  substantiated  by  responsible  people 
would  certainly  sound  mythical,  or,  to  put  it 
stronger,  like  a  downright  falsehood. 

"  March  28,  1906,  was  the  last  day  that  the 
physician  called,  and  the  first  day  of  the 
Christian  Science  treatment.  It  may  seem 
past  belief,  but  after  the  first  treatment  in 
Science  the  patient  drank  two  cups  of  coffee 
and  ate  several  doughnuts  and  a  plate  of 
baked  beans  for  her  evening  meal.  She  then 
slept  after  seven  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
and  without  the  usual '  capsule,'  too.  Within 
a  month  she  returned  to  Chicago,  and  al- 
though able  to  walk  but  little,  showed  rapid 
daily  progress  under  treatment  by  a  Christian 
Science  practitioner  in  that  city.  In  July  of 
the  same  year  she  had  regained  her  normal 
weight,  and  could  walk  and  stand  as  much 
physically  as  she  could  prior  to  her  illness. 
To-day  she  is  the  same,  after  having  spent 
the  past  year  in  a  trip  around  the  world  with- 
out a  sign  of  the  aches  and  pains  which 
usually  accompany  such  a  feat. 

"  It  is  well  worth  one's  while  to  take  the 
time  to  think  of  what  Christian  Science  did  in 
this  case.  Those  who  read  this  article 
carefully  will  see  that  Christian  Science  ac- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      115 

tually  put  life  into  a  human  being  who  had 
been  as  it  were  at  death's  door  for  more  than 
a  year." 

Let  the  candid  truth-seeker  consider  this 
case  in  connection  with  the  persistent  claims 
of  the  medical  profession  in  general,  that 
there  never  has  been  a  case  of  organic  dis- 
ease cured  by  Christian  Science;  and  in  this 
connection  also  let  him  call  to  mind  the  de- 
tailed account  of  cures  of  organic  disease  as 
given  by  Dr.  W.  F.  W.  Wilding,  Member  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  England 
and  of  the  British  Medical  Association,  and 
by  Edmund  F.  Burton,  M.  D.,  formerly  mem- 
ber of  the  surgical  staff  of  the  Cook  County 
Hospital  of  Chicago  and  instructor  in  the 
Rush  Medical  College.  These  two  scholarly 
physicians,  whose  eminent  ability  won  them 
such  high  honors  and  the  confidence  of  their 
brethren  when  they  were  medical  practition- 
ers, surely  are  entitled  to  be  regarded  as 
thoroughly  competent  diagnosticians;  and 
they,  it  will  be  remembered,  gave  detailed 
accounts  of  cures  wrought  by  Christian 
Science  in  many  cases,  among  which  were: 

(a)  Tuberculosis  of  both  hip  joints  and 
consumption  of  the  lungs,  with  the  patient, 
a    child  of    eight    years,    reduced  to    thirty 


ii6  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

pounds  in  weight.    (This  case  was  Dr.  Wild- 
ing's own  little  daughter.) 

(b)  Traumatic  disease  of  the  knee  joint,  in 
which  the  joint  was  greatly  enlarged  "and  the 
various  component  parts  were  little  else  than 
a  mass  of  pulpy  swelling." 

(c)  Organic  disease  of  the  valves  of  the 
heart. 

(d)  Paralysis  of  twenty  years'  standing. 

(e)  Broken  bone  restored  to  normal  con- 
dition without  aid  of  surgical  treatment. 

(f)  Cancer  of  the  stomach;  patient  in  ad- 
vanced condition;  death  considered  immi- 
nent* 

All  these  cases,  it  will  be  remembered,  are 
reported  by  persons  whose  medical  education 
and  training  entitle  them,  even  from  a  medi- 
cal view-point,  to  the  position  of  experts  as 
diagnosticians ;  while  in  the  case  of  Mrs. 
Oliver,  according  to  the  Journal  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  three  eminent 
medical  diagnosticians  examined  her  case 
and  passed  on  it. 

Now  if  it  can  be  proven  that  one  clearly 
defined  case  of  organized  disease  has  been 
cured  by  Christian  Science,  the  claim  of  Dr. 
Richard  Cabot  and  the  medical  profession  in 

*See  Chapter  III 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      117 

general,  that  organic  disease  cannot  be  cured 
by  this  system  of  healing,  falls  to  the  ground. 
We  hold  that  if  medical  testimony  is  worth 
anything,  if  the  slightest  reliance  is  to  be 
placed  on  the  diagnosis  of  eminent  and  hon- 
ored physicians,  the  case  of  Mrs.  Oliver, 
taken  together  with  those  of  Dr.  Wilding  and 
Dr.  Burton,  proves  not  only  the  possibility 
but  the  fact  that  organic  disease  has  been  and 
is  being  cured  by  Christian  Science. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Many  of  the  cases  which 
we  are  about  to  cite  as  illustrative  of  the 
other  contentions  advanced  by  critics  of 
Christian  Science,  by  virtue  of  their  circum- 
stantial character  will  impress  all  intelligent 
truth-seekers,  not  bhnd  because  they  will  not 
see,  as  extremely  valuable  as  corroborative 
evidence  of  the  fallacy  of  the  claim  of  faulty 
diagnosis  accounting  for  seeming  cures  of 
organic  disease  by  Christian  Science  practi- 
tioners. 

Turning  from  the  examination  of  the  ques- 
tion of  diagnosis,  we  come  to  notice  the  sec- 
ond claim  advanced  when  cures  are  cited  by 
patients  who  have  been  restored  to  health 
after  placing  themselves  under  Christian 
Science  treatment.  A  few  years  ago  it  was 
very  common,  when  these  alleged  cures  were 


ii8  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

mentioned,  to  hear  them  promptly  dismissed 
with  the  confident  declaration  that  the  per- 
sons making  such  claims  of  cures  were  ignor- 
ant, credulous,  and  often  not  over-conscien- 
tious, or  persons  easily  influenced  by  what 
others  told  them.  And  to-day  the  claim  is 
constantly  made  that  those  who  report  their 
cures  are  not  persons  whose  minds  are 
trained  to  weigh  evidence,  to  judge  and  dis- 
criminate; that  they  are  over-credulous  and 
therefore  little  weight  is  to  be  placed  on  their 
testimony. 

Before  examining  this  very  common  and 
convenient  explanation  advanced  by  the 
critics  of  Christian  Science  and  those  ignor- 
ant of  the  facts  involved,  we  wish  in  passing 
to  touch  upon  one  phase  of  the  question  that 
seems  to  have  escaped  the  attention  of  those 
who  are  biased  in  their  views  concerning 
Christian  Science.  Quite  apart  from  the  vast 
and  rapidly  growing  volume  of  alleged  cures 
by  Christian  Science  of  serious  organic  dis- 
eases, there  is  a  mighty  army  of  persons  who 
have  been  rescued  from  the  living  death  ex- 
perienced by  those  whose  nervous  systems 
have  become  completely  broken  down  and 
who,  through  various  forms  of  diseases  that 
physicians  might  term  functional,  were  living 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       119 

lives  of  such  indescribable  misery  as  to  fre- 
quently call  forth  the  earnest  prayer  that  they 
might  be  so  blessed  as  to  die, — a  great  army 
of  men  and  women  whom  the  medical  pro- 
fession have  been  powerless  to  cure  or  even 
materially  relieve,  but  who  have  been  com- 
pletely restored  by  Christian  Science.  These 
persons,  many  of  them  distinguished  in  busi- 
ness, political,  professional  and  educational 
spheres  of  activity,  whose  cases  so  long  baf- 
fled regular  treatment  and  who  from  chronic 
invalidism  are  today  enjoying  perfect  health, 
are  in  much  the  position  of  the  blind  man 
described  in  the  Scriptures,  whose  sight  was 
restored  by  the  Great  Nazarene.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  the  conventional  doctors 
of  the  law,  the  chief  priests,  scribes  and  Phar- 
isees, who  represented  the  professional  world 
with  all  its  prejudice  and  intolerance,  were 
greatly  exercised  by  the  cure.  They  at- 
tempted, in  the  first  place,  to  deny  the  validity 
of  the  claim  by  insisting  that  the  man  was 
not  the  person  he  pretended  to  be.  When  the 
parents  were  called,  however,  they  discom- 
fited the  critics  by  insisting  that  the  man  was 
their  son,  who  had  been  born  blind.  Next 
the  conventional  critics  sought  to  terrorize 
the  parents  and  the  fortunate  man  by  insist- 


120  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

ing  that  the  cure  had  not  been  wrought  by  a 
prophet  of  God,  because  the  good  deed  had 
been  performed  on  the  Sabbath.  The  blind 
man,  however,  manifested  his  impatience  at 
the  quibbling  of  the  schoolmen,  emphatically 
insisting  on  the  one  point  that  was  vital  in  so 
far  as  he  was  concerned :  "One  thing  I  know, 
that  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see."  So  to 
those  who  have  been  rescued  from  a  living 
death  or  brought  back  from  the  brink  of  the 
grave  by  Christian  Science  treatment,  after  all 
other  methods  had  failed,  the  fact  that  they 
are  in  the  enjoyment  of  abounding  health  is 
far  more  material  to  them  than  the  question 
whether  the  disease  which  was  carrying  them 
to  the  grave  was  functional  or  organic. 

It  may  be  urged  that  persons  who  are  suf- 
fering from  neurasthenia  or  general  nervous 
collapse  are  not  in  a  position  to  judge  of 
their  condition,  and  this  is  doubtless  measur- 
ably true  in  some  cases,  where  the  mind  has 
never  been  trained  to  rigid  logical  processes, 
to  weighing  evidence,  or  to  considering  facts 
in  relation  to  other  facts.  But  in  the  case 
of  scholars,  lawyers,  judges,  and  critical 
thinkers,  our  observations  lead  us  to  con- 
clude that  these  conditions  frequently  in- 
crease the  mental  perspicacity. 


A  THERAPEUTIC  AGENT        121 

With  this  general  observation,  concerning 
a  large  class  of  persons,  many  of  them  dis- 
tinguished judges,  lawyers,  critics,  authors, 
artists  and  members  of  other  professions,  who 
have  been  restored  to  lives  of  usefulness  by 
Christian  Science,  let  us  notice  this  third 
popular  claim, — that  of  the  incompetency  of 
those  who  have  been  cured  to  speak  truth- 
fully and  accurately  in  regard  to  their  restor- 
ation after  long  and  faithful  treatment  under 
regular  physicians  had  proved  unavailing.  A 
volume  could  be  compiled  composed  entirely 
of  the  statements  of  cures  of  judges,  lawyers 
and  critical  thinkers,  or  where  evidence  has 
been  obtained  under  oath  and  with  corrobora- 
tive facts  that  render  the  testimony  unim- 
peachable. Space,  however,  renders  it  im- 
possible for  us  to  cite  more  than  a  few  well 
authenticated  typical  cases  where  the  facts 
are  of  such  a  character  as  to  entitle  them  to 
the  careful  consideration  of  all  earnest  truth- 
seekers. 

In  the  first  place,  we  desire  to  give  the  case 
of  Judge  John  D.  Works,  the  eminent  jurist 
of  Los  Angeles,  California,  and  in  so  doing 
we  confine  ourselves  to  the  evidence  elicited 
under  oath  on  the  witness  stand  at  a  trial  in 
Los  Angeles,  California.     We  do  this  because 


122  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

it  cannot  be  claimed  that  such  statements  are 
the  garbled  or  colored  narratives  of  reporters 
or  that  they  are  the  careless  statements  such 
as  certain  physicians  seem  to  imagine  all  peo- 
ple who  are  not  cured  by  the  regular  methods 
are  wont  to  indulge  in  when  describing  their 
cures.  To  economize  space  we  omit  many  of 
the  questions  asked  and  condense  repHes, 
while  retaining  the  witnesses'  exact  words  in 
the  testimony  given. 

The  Hon.  John  D.  Works  is  one  of  the 
very  prominent  lawyers  of  the  Pacific  coast. 
He  was  for  some  years  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  San  Diego  County,  and  later  one  of 
the  associated  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State.  In  answer  to  the  question  as  to 
his  trouble  and  his  experience  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  same,  he  said : 

"I  had  been  a  sufferer  for  many  years  from 
stomach  trouble  mainly.  I  had  resorted  to  all 
kinds  of  treatment,  allopathic,  homeopathic, 
osteopathic,  and  my  condition  had  grown 
steadily  worse.  I  had  lost  something  over 
thirty  pounds  in  flesh.  During  much  of  this 
time  I  was  taking  active  treatment  from  phy- 
sicians for  my  condition,  some  of  them  at* 
tributing  it  to  one  cause  and  some  another 
and  directing  their  remedies  to  whatever  they 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       123 

conceived  to  be  the  cause  of  my  trouble. 
None  of  them  seemed  to  do  me  any  good. 
Latterly,  I  was  a  sufferer  almost  continually 
from  headache,  mostly  in  the  back  of  my  head, 
which  was  exceedingly  distressing,  and  to  a 
very  large  extent  towards  the  last  incapaci- 
tated me  for  the  kind  of  work  that  I  had  to 
do.  I  was  really  not  able  to  do  my  full  day's 
work.  Generally  I  had  to  quit  at  three  or 
half  past  three  o'clock,  unable  to  finish  out 
the  day's  work.  I  had  tried  what  I  regarded 
as  thoroughly  competent  physicians  in  their 
different  schools  and  whom  I  had  no  doubt 
were  entirely  conscientious  in  their  treat- 
ment. But  deriving  no  benefit,  I  finally  went 
to  a  Christian  Science  practitioner  and  told 
her  what  my  condition  was.  She  told  me  to 
eat  three  meals  a  day,  eat  what  I  wanted,  and 
that  she  would  take  care  of  the  balance.  I 
commenced  to  do  so  and  I  am  eating  my 
three  meals  a  day  now,  and  suffer  no  dis- 
comfort from  it.  I  have  been  relieved  from 
the  headaches  almost  entirely.  I  am  able 
to  do  my  full  day's  work  without  discomfort, 
and  am  benefited  generally  in  every  way." 

In  June  of  last  year.  Judge  Works  gave  an 
extended  report  of  his  cure,  from  which  it 
is  shown  that  under  Christian  Science  treat- 


124  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

ment  his  various  troubles  steadily  gave  way, 
until  he  came  into  the  enjoyment  of  ex- 
cellent health  and  regained  all  his  lost  flesh. 
His  health  .has  remained  excellent  since  his 
cure,  now  a  period  of  some  years. 

Judge  Works  also  described  under  oath 
the  cure  of  his  wife  by  Christian  Science, 
after  a  condition  of  chronic  invalidism  ex- 
tending over  a  period  of  more  than  fifteen 
years. 

During  the  trial  at  which  the  Judge's  tes- 
timony was  given,  a  number  of  other  highly 
respectable  representative  citizens  of  Los 
Angeles,  including  a  number  of  prominent 
business  and  professional  men  of  this  city, 
also  testified  to  cures  wrought  on  themselves 
and  members  of  their  families  through  Chris- 
tian Science,  in  many  instances  after  faithful 
and  conscientious  but  unavailing  treatment 
by  physicians.  Among  those  who  thus  testi- 
fied were  Mr.  William  Pridham,  superintend- 
ent of  the  Wells,  Fargo  &  Company's  Ex- 
press for  thirty-four  years;  R.  P.  Bishop,  of 
the  firm  of  Bishop  &  Company ;  W.  E.  Brown, 
of  the  firm  of  Brown,  Stanley  &  Company; 
and  Dr.  A.  Willis  Paine. 

There  were  among  those  that  testified 
some  remarkable  cures  of  patients  who,  ac- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       125 

cording  to  their  physicians,  had  tuberculosis 
in  advanced  stages.  One  of  these  cases  — 
that  of  Mrs.  Lila  Young — we  cite  because  the 
evidence  here  given  was  under  oath  and  with 
the  consciousness  that  the  witness  would  be 
subjected  to  severe  cross  examination;  so 
that  the  claim  of  loose  or  careless  reporting 
of  the  facts  cannot  be  advanced.  One  of  the 
physicians  who  had  pronounced  Mrs.  Young's 
case  tuberculosis  was  the  eminent  Dr.  R. 
Beverly  Cole,  one  of  the  most  famed  physi- 
cians of  the  Pacific  coast.  When  he  exam- 
ined her,  her  case  was  so  advanced  that  he 
held  out  no  hope  of  recovery  for  her.  The 
restoration  was  accomplished  many  years  ago 
and  the  patient's  health  has  steadily  improved 
during  this  period.  She  for  some  years  en- 
joyed most  excellent  health.  Here,  as  in 
Judge  Works'  case,  we  condense  the  answers, 
retaining  in  every  instance,  however,  the 
witness's  exact  words : 

"  I  was  healed  of  consumption.  My  people, 
my  mother  and  her  family,  consisting  of  six 
in  the  family,  all  died  with  consumption,  and 
I  was  doctored  for  many  years.  There  were 
twelve  years  that  I  was  in  bed  the  greater 
part  of  the  time,  and  an  eminent  physician  of 
San  Francisco  was    the  last    physician    that 


126  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

told  me — he  examined  my  lungs  and  shook 
his  head  and  said  that  he  didn't  know  what 
to  do  for  me.  He  said  he  knew  of  no  climate 
— he  said,  'I  can  only  compare  you  to  the 
sensitive  plant;  heat  or  cold,  you  will  wither 
away/  It  seemed  to  me  he  explained  my 
situation  better  than  I  could  And  at  that 
time,  there  hadn't  been  a  day,  I  presume  for 
more  than  a  year,  that  I  sat  up  all  day.  I 
was  healed  by  Christian  Science  after  I  had 
no  other  hope." 

In  the  cross  examination  Mrs.  Young  gave 
the  name  of  the  distinguished  physician  who 
last  pronounced  on  her  case.  In  reply  to  a 
question,  "You  had  consumption,  did  you?" 
she  replied,  "The  doctors  said  I  had.  Dr. 
Beverly  Cole  was  one  of  them,  whom  prob- 
ably every  one  here  knows  of,  as  he  is  known 
everywhere." 

Under  date  of  December  i8,  1908,  in  an- 
swer to  a  personal  inquiry  from  us,  Mrs. 
Young  wrote  that  she  now  weighs  150 
pounds,  and  her  friends  are  all  ready  to  say, 
"You  don't  look  as  though  you  ever  had  con- 
sumption." "I  have  been  well  now  for  fif- 
teen years,"  adds  Mrs.  Young. 

The  general  interest  evinced  by  the  public  in 
well-authenticated  cures,  led  us  later  to  write 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      127 

to  several  persons  who  were  said  to  have 
been  cured  of  well-defined  organic  diseases 
or  troubles  about  the  cure  of  which  the  doc- 
tors held  out  no  hope.  We  have  received  a 
number  of  replies,  in  all  of  which  the  writers 
testified  to  the  verity  of  the  cures ;  but  space 
renders  it  impossible  to  give  more  than  three 
or  four  of  these  cases,  and  in  some  instances 
we  have  found  it  necessary  to  abridge  the 
statements,  or  rather  to  omit  those  portions 
of  the  reports  that  do  not  directly  deal  with 
the  cure  of  the  disease  or  affliction  under  con- 
sideration. The  cases,  however,  are  so  clear 
and  detailed  in  character  and  come  from  per- 
sons of  such  standing  that  they  are  of  special 
interest  and  value,  not  only  as  answering  the 
special  objection  we  are  considering,  but  as 
further  proving  the  power  of  Christian  Sci- 
ence to  cure  organic  disease  and  afflictions 
considered  by  physicians  as  incurable. 

The  first  case  to  which  we  wish  to  invite 
the  attention  of  our  readers  is  that  of  Mr.  J. 
J.  Petermichel,  Official  Reporter  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court,  Los  Angeles,  California,  who 
under  date  of  December  21,  1908,  writes : 

"It  affords  me  pleasure  to  comply  with 
your  request  for  an  account  of  my  cure. 

"The  doctors  pronounced  my  trouble,  as 


128         CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

near  as  I  can  now  remember  the  language, 
*Mixed  tubercular  infection  with  a  combina- 
tion of  mucous,  the  sputum  showing  or  indi- 
cating cavities  of  long  standing  and  tubercles 
in  large  quantities/  About  six  months  prior 
to  the  time  of  the  microscopical  examination 
of  the  sputum,  I  had  partly  recovered  from  a 
ten  weeks'  illness  of  double  pneumonia,  which 
left  my  lungs  filled  with  mucous,  making  the 
case  a  more  complicated  one  and  very  diffi- 
cult of  cure. 

"I  had  been  affected  for  about  five  years, 
the  major  portion  of  which  time  was  spent  in 
travelling  in  search  of  a  climate  that  would 
be  beneficial. 

"The  names  of  the  doctors  who  treated  me, 
as  far  as  I  can  now  remember  (I  do  not  now 
recall  their  initials,  as  it  has  been  almost  ten 
years  since  I  have  given  them  any  thought) 
are  as  follows:  In  Chicago,  Doctors  Way, 
Reynolds  and  Stryzowski,  and  one  or  two 
others.  Doctors  Way  and  Stryzowski  ad- 
vised me  to  consult  with  Dr.  Norman  Bridge, 
one  of  Chicago's  noted  specialists,  and  have 
an  examination  made.  Dr.  Bridge,  after  such 
examination,  advised  me  to  go  to  California, 
although  he  declined  to  state  definitely  how 
serious  mv  trouble  was.    In  California  I  had 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      129 

several  physicians  at  the  different  places 
where  I  located,  but  can  now  only  recall  Dr. 
Bayliss  of  San  Bernardino  and  Dr.  Kruell 
of  Los  Angeles.  Dr.  Kruell  was  my  last  phy- 
sician and  upon  his  advice  a  microscopical 
examination  of  the  sputum  was  made  by  Dr. 
Croftan  of  Pasadena,  who  made  a  report  sub- 
stantially in  the  language  hereinbefore  stated. 
Dr.  Kruell  told  me  that  he  had  exhausted  all 
remedies  known  to  his  profession,  and  it  was 
his  frank  opinion  medicine  could  do  no  more 
for  me ;  he  advised  me  to  return  East  with 
my  family  so  that  I  could  die  among  my 
friends  and  relatives  and  my  family  could  be 
taken  care  of.  He  held  out  no  hope  and  gave 
me  a  month  to  live.  About  two  months  prior 
to  that  time,  Dr.  Bayliss  told  me  if  I  did  not 
find  a  climate  that  would  benefit  me  I  would 
not  live  three  months.  My  friends  had  given 
up  all  hope,  and  as  one  of  them  expressed 
himself  some  time  after  my  cure  in  Christian 
Science :  'While  standing  on  a  corner  talking 
to  Petermichel,  who  was  waiting  for  a  car,  I 
was  anxious  to  get  him  on  the  car  as  quickly 
as  possible  and  get  him  out  of  my  sight,  as 
I  was  afraid  he  would  die  on  my  hands.'  To 
give  you  some  idea  of  my  condition,  I  might 
state  that  I  at  that  time  weighed  120  pounds ; 


130  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

that  my  normal  weight  was  i6o  pounds,  and 
I  now  weigh  over  185  pounds.  I,  at  that 
time,  had  not  a  pound  of  flesh  on  me,  was 
practically  a  walking  skeleton,  had  reached 
the  stage  where  I  was  blue  around  the  lips, 
unable  to  walk  ten  feet  at  one  effort,  a  per- 
petual dry  cough  racking  my  frame  day  and 
night,  unable  to  eat  or  retain  food,  and  un- 
able to  breathe  without  great  effort,  and 
having  finally  given  up  all  hope  of  a  cure 
and  expecting  any  day  to  be  my  last. 

"I  had  removed  from  the  mountains  to  Los 
Angeles  with  the  intention  of  disposing  of  my 
effects  and  taking  my  family  East  to  their 
relatives.  Our  neighbors  on  each  side  of  us 
were  Christian  Scientists  and  it  was  upon 
their,  and  my  wife's  earnest  solicitations,  and 
primarily  to  satisfy  my  wife  that  I  was  will- 
ing to  do  anything  to  be  cured,  that  I  con- 
sented to  one  week's  treatment.  At  the  time 
the  thought  of  God  doing  anything  for  me 
was  repugnant,  as  I  was  not  of  a  very  reli- 
gious turn  of  mind,  having  found  nothing  in 
the  various  religions  I  had  investigated  that 
appealed  to  me;  therefore  having  no  faith 
in  God's  disposition  or  ability  to  heal  me. 
At  the  time  of  engaging  the  treatment  I  in- 
formed the  practitioner  that  I  had  no  faith 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      131 

in  the  treatment  and  there  would  have  to  be 
some  appreciable  benefit  realized  within  the 
week  or  treatment  would  be  discontinued. 
After  the  first  treatment  I  was  told  to  go 
home  and  eat  heartily  of  such  food  as  I  de- 
sired and  to  fear  no  ill  effects,  following  the 
scriptural  injunction  to  'Take  no  thought  for 
your  food/  I  partook  of  a  hearty  meal,  with 
some  misgivings  and  considerable  skepticism 
as  to  my  ability  to  retain  the  food,  but 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  no  ill  effects  followed. 
I  enjoyed  my  meal  and  the  food  remained 
on  my  stomach  (something  I  had  been  unable 
to  do  for  six  months) ;  I  spent  a  more  restful 
night,  having  some  sleep  and  more  restful 
breathing.  The  first  week  I  gained  some  two 
pounds  in  weight,  was  able  to  be  about  with 
more  comfort,  able  to  breathe  with  less  diffi- 
culty and  at  greater  depth ;  the  cough  became 
easier  and  less  painful;  my  appetite  became 
better,  and,  best  of  all,  hope  was  renewed 
within  me  and  I  began  to  see  the  possibility 
of  a  cure,  and  learned  that  God  was  not  only 
able,  but  willing  to  cure  me.  I  continued 
under  treatment  with  the  practitioner  for  five 
weeks,  at  the  end  of  which  time  I  felt  I  was 
able  to  (with  the  understanding  of  the  rules 
of   Christian   Science   and  their  application. 


132  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

gained  from  the  practitioner  and  from  the 
study  of  the  text-book,  Science  and  Healthy 
during  that  time)  conduct  my  own  treatment. 
In  about  eight  weeks  after  beginning  the 
treatment  I  was  at  work  at  my  profession, 
and  have  continued  at  work  during  the  past 
nine  and  one-half  years  without  the  loss  of 
one  day  on  account  of  sickness. 

"It  was  some  two  years  before  I  regained 
normal  weight  and  before  my  friends  would 
admit  that  the  cure  was  permanent,  although 
I  was  conscious  of  the  healing  after  I  had  left 
the  practitioner  after  my  last  treatment,  the 
fear  of  the  disease  having  been  destroyed, 
and  I  was  conscious  of  the  fact  that  I  had 
no  disease  and  it  would  be  only  a  matter  of 
the  physical  effects  to  follow.  I  am  now  36 
years  of  age,  enjoying  vigorous  health,  able 
to  work  fourteen  to  fifteen  hours  a  day  for 
weeks  at  a  time,  with  no  resultant  physical 
ill  effects." 

Like  pulmonary  tuberculosis  or  consump- 
tion of  the  lungs,  albuminuria  or  Bright's  dis- 
ease is  considered  by  the  medical  profession 
as  not  only  organic  but  incurable.  If  the 
patient  whose  detailed  story,  sent  us  under 
date  of  January  8th  from  Los  Angeles,  Cali- 
fornia, and  given  below,  had  applied  to  the 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       133 

Emmanuel  Church  in  Boston  or  to  any  of  the 
various  other  experiment  stations  where  at- 
tempts are  being  made  to  harness  medicine 
and  religion,  she  would  have  been  refused 
treatment,  because  the  attending  physician 
had  pronounced  her  to  be  suffering  from 
albuminuria.  The  progress  of  this  disease,  it 
will  be  observed  from  Mrs.  Hebbard's  report, 
had  been  attended  by  nervous  break-down 
accompanied  by  such  acute  pain  that  the 
patient  was  driven  to  morphine  for  relief,  with 
the  dread  result  that  the  morphine  habit  be- 
came fixed.  Here  we  have  four  serious  con- 
ditions :  albuminuria,  nervous  prostration  or 
nervous  and  mental  break-down,  neuralgia, 
and  the  morphine  habit.  The  almost  instan- 
taneous cure  of  the  drug  habit  is  certainly 
worthy  of  notice,  as  it  is  usually  considered 
one  of  the  most  difficult  things  that  doctors 
have  to  contend  with.  The  following  testi- 
mony is  given  by  Mrs.  Josephine  A.  Heb- 
bard,  of  Los  Angeles,  California: 

"I  turned  to  Christian  Science,  hoping  to 
be  healed  of  the  drug  habit.  Through  a 
very  severe  and  chronic  case  of  kidney 
trouble,  which  the  attending  physicians  had 
called  albuminuria,  and  from  which  I  had 
suffered    for    over    eight    years,    neuralgia 


134  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

had  been  superinduced,  and  I  could  only 
find  relief  in  morphine.  I  became  ad- 
dicted to  the  use  of  this  drug  in  very  large 
doses,  and  in  fact  became  so  dependent  on  it 
that  I  could  not  do  without  it.  I  had  been 
treated  by  a  number  of  our  best  medical  men 
for  this  kidney  trouble,  but  grew  worse  in- 
stead of  better.  I  also  had  a  number  of  at- 
tacks of  nervous  prostration  and  declared  by 
an  eminent  nerve  specialist  (Dr.  Brainerd)  to 
be  one  of  the  most  typical  cases  he  had  seen. 
I  seldom  ate  anything  but  raw  eggs  and  milk. 
At  the  time  I  turned  to  Christian  Science  I 
weighed  only  ninety-seven  pounds  and  was  a 
mental  and  physical  wreck.  One  treatment 
in  Science  cured  me  of  all  desire  for  drugs 
and  in  three  weeks  I  was  a  well  woman.  I 
gained  twenty-nine  pounds  in  twenty-eight 
days,  and  in  less  than  three  months  after  I 
had  commenced  treatment  I  had  gained 
forty-three  pounds.  I  have  had  my  urine  ex- 
amined by  two  different  physicians  since  then, 
and  the  result  was  a  healthy  and  normal  con- 
dition was  found  and  no  trace  of  any  kidney 
trouble.  I  have  written  certificates  from 
three  physicians,  each  testifying  to  the  firm 
belief  that  I  was  healed  from  an  apparently 
hopeless  condition  through  the  application  of 
Christian  Science. 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      135 

"I  will  here  supply  the  physicians'  names 
who  have  treated  me :  Doctors  H.  C.  Brain- 
erd,  D.  C.  Barber,  George  L.  Cole,  D.  W. 
Edelman,  J.  C.  Ferbert,  Merritt  S.  Hitt, 
Thaddeus  Johnson,  Charles  Taggart,  and 
O.  O.  Witherbee.  The  physicians  writing  the 
certificates  are  Doctors  Hitt,  Ferbert  and 
Barber,  and  the  papers  are  in  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Frank  Gale  of  the  Christian  Science 
Publication  Committee  of  San  Francisco." 

The  following  report  is  from  the  pen 
of  Mrs.  D.  W.  King,  of  Newark,  Ver- 
mont. It  has  an  important  bearing  on  the 
special  points  considered  in  this  paper,  be- 
cause here  it  can  not  be  claimed  that  the 
diagnosis  was  superficial  or  faulty,  the  patient 
having  been  operated  upon  and  her  hip  bone 
scraped,  by  reputable  physicians;  and  it  is 
not  a  disease  in  which  it  will  be  claimed  by 
physicians  and  hypnotists  of  standing  in  the 
scientific  world,  that  hypnotic  suggestion 
could  be  hoped  to  effect  a  cure. 

"Six  years  ago  I  was  afflicted  with  tubercu- 
losis of  the  hip,  and  in  August  of  that  year 
went  to  the  hospital  at  Hanover,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  underwent  an  operation  in  which 
the  sore  was  opened  and  bone  scraped.  I  re- 
ceived the  best  surgical  attention  as  well  as 


136  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

kindest  care  of  nurses  but  failed  to  obtain  re- 
lief, and  the  following  spring  the  hip  was 
much  worse  and  the  discharge  increased.  The 
next  summer  I  had  a  severe  stomach  and 
bowel  trouble  and  for  many  weeks  was  not 
expected  to  recover.  At  that  time  I  was 
attended  by  Dr.  W.  R.  Noyes  of  West  Burke, 
Vermont, — now  removed  to  Brattleboro.  I 
could  take  no  solid  food,  even  a  few  spoon- 
fuls of  broth  causing  great  distress.  The 
condition  of  the  hip  grew  much  worse,  with 
constant  discharge.  I  could  walk  only  as  I 
used  two  crutches,  moving  but  an  inch  at  a 
time  and  with  much  pain. 

**At  last  my  father  urged  me  to  go  to  St. 
Johnsbury,  Vermont,  and  stay  with  relatives 
where  I  could  be  treated  by  Dr.  Walter 
Aldrich  of  that  place,  a  physician  of  reputa- 
tion. He,  however,  gave  my  father  no  hopes 
of  my  recovery,  as  I  was  too  weak  to  have 
another  operation  for  the  hip.  When  I 
begged  him  to  do  something  for  my  stomach 
he  only  shook  his  head  and  said  there  was  no 
help  for  that  condition,  as  the  sores  poisoned 
my  whole  system. 

"My  aunt,  with  whom  I  was  staying,  was  a 
Christian  Scientist  and  when  she  saw  my 
hopelessness  and  despair  at  leaving  my  hus- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      137 

band  and  three  little  children,  for  death 
seemed  inevitable,  she  began  to  tell  me  of 
Christian  Science;  how  it  had  healed  thou- 
sands of  hopeless  ones.  She  read  the  text- 
book, Science  and  Health  to  me,  and  ex- 
plained its  teachings,  and  I  forgot  all  about 
the  pain  and  distress  in  my  stomach  and  at 
the  end  of  the  afternoon  remarked  that  I  had 
not  had  it  and  was  really  hungry.  She  told 
me  to  eat  what  I  wanted  for  supper  and  I  did 
so,  among  other  things  cheese  and  pickles. 
I  slept  soundly  that  night,  something  I  had 
not  done  for  two  years,  and  from  that  time 
have  had  no  trouble  with  my  stomach,  being 
able  to  eat  anything  I  wish.  I  returned  to  my 
home  and  commenced  the  study  of  Science 
and  Health  with  an  eagerness  I  had  never 
felt  for  anything  before.  I  had  treatment 
by  a  Christian  Science  practitioner.  At  the 
end  of  one  week  the  hip  had  begun  to  heal; 
in  a  month  the  pain  had  entirely  ceased,  and 
at  the  end  of  thirteen  months  the  sores  had 
all  healed  and  I  have  had  no  trouble  from  the 
limb  since,  being  able  to  do  all  my  work  for 
a  family  of  five." 

We  now  invite  the  reader's  attention  to  a 
very  detailed  statement  of  a  most  remarkable 
case,    given   by    E.  A.  Crane,  a  well-known 


138  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

lawyer  of  Kalamazoo,  Michigan.  Mr.  Crane's 
report  is  very  long,  but  the  case  is  so  striking 
in  character  that  we  feel  it  important  to  give 
the  entire  statement,  excepting  Mr.  Crane's 
presentation  of  the  Christian  Science  philoso- 
phy as  presented  to  him  by  the  practitioner 
through  whom  he  was  healed.  This,  though 
interesting,  is  not  of  evidential  value  in  the 
present  discussion,  and  for  want  of  space  is 
omitted. 

"I  was  born  in  A.  D.  1844  at  Paw  Paw,  in 
this  state.  Lived  on  a  farm  until  grown  up, 
and  was  naturally  of  a  husky,  healthy  make- 
up. At  the  siege  of  Atlanta,  during  the  Civil 
War,  in  which  I  served  three  years  in  the 
cavalry,  we  were  dismounted  and  put  in  the 
trenches  to  support  our  cannon  which  was 
throwing  about  300  shells  a  minute  at  times. 
The  terrible  concussion  fairly  shook  the 
earth  and  was  very  enervating.  We  often  in 
a  lull  would  fall  asleep  and  be  suddenly 
shaken  by  the  renewing  of  the  firing.  The 
result  was  that  very  many  of  the  soldiers  lost 
their  hearing,  I  with  the  rest;  but  gradually 
the  hearing  of  my  right  ear  returned  so  it 
was  fairly  good,  but  to  my  left  ear  it  never  did 
return  till  the  event  hereinafter  stated.  My 
condition  in  that  respect  was  such  for  about 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       139 

forty  years  that  it  was  necessary  always  to  sit 
or  walk  on  the  left  side  of  those  with  whom 
conversation  was  to  be  had,  and  in  company 
with  several  to  always  turn  my  head  to  catch 
the  sounds  with  my  right  ear.  After  the  war 
Dr.  N.  W.  Abbott,  then  a  prominent  practic- 
ing physician  in  Chicago  (now  deceased)  ex- 
amined my  ear  and  took  me  to  a  leading  aur- 
ist  practicing  in  Chicago  (cannot  recall  his 
name)  who  examined  me,  and  he  said  some- 
thing was  paralyzed  (some  part  of  the  ear) 
and  that  nothing  could  be  done  for  it;  and 
nothing  further  was  attempted. 

"I  have  been  a  practicing  lawyer  since  A. 
D.  1873,  and  have  enjoyed  good  average 
health.  In  the  fall  of  1899  my  eyelids  gave 
me  some  annoyance  with  an  itching  sensa- 
tion, which  was  relieved  from  time  to  time 
by  the  use  of  a  little  salt  water,  till  the  even- 
ing of  the  23rd  day  of  December  of  that  year 
I  called  on  an  oculist  practicing  here  (a  grad- 
uate from  that  department  of  the  Michigan 
University)  and  asked  him  to  tell  me  what 
caused  the  itching  sensation.  He  turned 
back  each  lid  and  applied  something  that 
caused  a  burning  sensation  and  which  I  after- 
wards learned  was  nitrate  of  silver  in  solid 
stick,  and  which  if  used  at  all  should  have 


140  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

been  diluted  several  times  and  there  should 
have  been  some  preparation  put  on  the  eye- 
balls to  protect  them  from  possibility  of  in- 
jury by  unspent  portions  of  the  poison, 
neither  of  which  precautions  were  taken ;  and 
the  result  was  that  when  the  lids  turned  back 
onto  the  eyes  there  was  enough  of  the  poison 
to  destroy  the  tops  of  the  eyeballs.  Nothing 
could  stop  it  till  its  force  was  spent  and  fur- 
rows burned  into  the  eyeballs  till,  as  the  doc- 
tor advised  me,  it  had  destroyed  the  struc- 
tural part  of  the  eyeballs.  My  suffering  was 
intense  and  indescribable.  The  tops  of  my 
eyes  sloughed  off,  and  from  what  others  tell 
me,  what  was  left  looked  more  like  pieces  of 
raw  beef  than  like  human  eyes.  My  health 
and  strength  went  with  my  eyes,  till  in  about 
three  months  I  could  not  walk;  but  in  time 
the  inflammation  went  down  and  physical 
suffering  ceased.  I  found  myself  then  with 
one  eye  destroyed.  The  outer  coating,  when 
I  first  saw  it,  hardly  had  the  semblance  of  an 
eye.  The  color  was  between  a  white  and  yel- 
low-white. The  right  eye  had  some  color, 
but  no  lustre ;  but  part  of  the  cornea  showed 
and  I  could  see  sufficiently  to  keep  on  the 
walks;  could  see  people  near  me  but  could 
not  discern  one  from  another  till  the  time 
hereinafter  referred  to. 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      141 

"I  prefer  not  to  give  the  name  of  the  doctor 
or  oculist  who  made  the  mistake,  unless 
some  controversy  arises  that  seems  to  make 
it  necessary.  He  is  practicing  here.  I  have 
forgiven  him  and  wish  the  mantle  of  charity 
used  for  his  good. 

"The  same  evening  I  was  injured  I  called 
Dr.  O.  A.  La  Crone,  an  oculist  of  good  stand- 
ing here,  and  he  had  local  charge  of  my  case 
as  long  as  it  was  in  care  of  doctors  at  all.  He 
called  to  see  me  every  day  for  many  weeks 
and  encouraged  me  to  think  at  first  that  my 
sight  would  return  when  the  inflammation 
was  gone.  A  small  part  of  the  time  I  was  in 
a  hospital  here  kept  by  a  Dr.  Clark  who  is 
still  here  and  who  I  am  sure  examined  my 
eyes,  as  I  think  several  other  local  doctors 
did,  among  them  Dr.  Edward  Ames,  Dr.  H. 
B.  Osborn,  Dr.  A.  N.  Crane,  Dr.  Edwards 
and  others.  I  think  the  principal  doctors 
here  examined  them,  because  when  Dr.  La 
Crone  came  to  treat  me  he  had  others  with 
him.  They  did  not  talk.  I  could  not  see 
them,  but  could  hear  them. 

"On  the  fifth  of  May,  1900,  four  months 
after  I  was  hurt,  I  went  to  Ann  Arbor,  Mich- 
igan, to  consult  with  Dr.  Carew,  then  the 
leader  of  that  department  in  the  Michigan 


142  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

University.  He  called  in  another  member  of 
the  faculty,  and  from  what  I  overheard  be- 
tween them  no  encouragement  was  offered. 
From  these  doctors  and  several  others  I  was 
given  to  understand  that  my  left  eye  was  de- 
stroyed and  that  nothing  could  be  expected 
from  that  source.  However,  I  then  went 
under  Dr.  Carew's  care,  also  retaining  Dr. 
La  Crone.  Their  treatment  was  the  same, 
but  there  was  no  improvement.  On  the  29th 
of  May  I  went  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  to  see 
a  noted  oculist,  whose  name  I  have  forgot- 
ten ;  but  he  gave  me  no  encouragement.  So 
I  returned  to  Chicago  and  was  examined  by 
a  couple  of  specialists  there;  have  forgotten 
their  names  but  could  get  them  if  necessary. 
They  decided  that  nothing  could  be  done  for 
the  left  eye  and  that  there  was  but  one 
chance  to  improve  the  right  eye,  which  was 
by  a  surgical  operation  which  they  thought 
might  keep  it. 

"I  continued  treatment  with  Dr.  Carew  and 
Dr.  La  Crone  till  July  16,  1900.  About  July 
first,  at  request  of  friends,  I  consulted  a 
Christian  Science  practitioner  here  (now  in 
Paris,  France).  She  gave  me  encouragement 
but  would  not  take  my  case  unless  I  would 
^ive  up  the  doctors,  and  she  advised  me  not 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       143 

to  give  them  up  as  long  as  I  had  any  faith 
that  they  might  help  me. 

''About  the  tenth  of  July  I  wrote  Dr.  Carew 
of  Ann  Arbor,  that  there  was  no  improve- 
ment going  on  in  my  case  and  had  not  been, 
and  asked  if  he  could  not  change  remedies  to 
help  me.  He  replied  that  he  could  not — he 
did  not  know  anything  better  to  recommend, 
and  then  said  that  he  considered  it  his  duty 
to  advise  me  that  he  considered  mine  a  very 
serious  case.  This  statement,  with  what  I 
had  heard  from  others,  convinced  me  that 
there  was  no  hope ;  that  I  was  to  be  blind ; 
and  the  doctors,  after  doing  the  best  they 
could,  had  decided  to  let  me  know  the  worst. 

"I  then  went  to  see  the  Christian  Science 
practitioner  and  engaged  her  to  take  my 
case.     This  was  July  i6th. 

"About  the  third  meeting  with  the  prac- 
tioner  she  noticed  that  I  was  hard  of  hear- 
ing, as  I  turned  my  head  when  she  spoke  to 
me,  and  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  hearing  was 
then  explained  to  her ;  but  I  requested  that 
she  not  try  to  help  my  hearing,  as  it  might 
divide  her  powers,  all  of  which  I  felt  neces- 
sary to  improving  my  sight;  but  she  replied 
that  I  must  be  every  whit  whole." 


144  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

After  explaining  the  treatment  in  detail, 
Mr.  Crane  continues : 

"The  settled,  fixed  idea  that  there  was  no 
help  commenced  to  yield.  I  commenced  im- 
proving physically  and  mentally,  and  in  about 
ten  days  suddenly  my  hearing  returned  clear 
as  a  bell, — much  better  than  from  the  other 
ear.  I  now  use  the  'phone  receiver  at  the  in- 
jured ear  altogether. 

"There  was  no  material  improvement  in 
sight  till  August  17th,  when  suddenly  my 
sight  returned.  I  picked  up  a  common  news- 
paper and  read  out  loud  a  whole  column,  and 
that  without  glasses,  whereas  I  had  used 
glasses  for  fifteen  years.  I  then  used  to  read 
evenings  to  amuse  my  family. 

"August  23rd  I  tested  my  ability  to  see 
with  and  without  glasses,  and  found  that  I 
could  see  to  read  without  them  better  than 
with  them,  and  made  a  note  of  the  fact  in  my 
diary.  Glasses  were  discarded  entirely  for  a 
time,  and  till  curiosity  led  me  to  view  myself 
in  a  glass.  The  sight  of  my  eyes  so  fright- 
ened me  as  to  necessitate  the  return  to 
glasses.  One  eye  was  practically  blank,  while 
the  other  had  some  color  but  no  lustre  or  life. 
That  experiment  cost  me  much  anxiety  and 
set  me  back  years  which  it  has  taken  to  over- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      145 

come  the  fright  and  loss  of  faith.  While  I 
understand  why  it  was  so,  it's  not  easy  to  ex- 
plain so  others  may  see  the  logic.  Since  then 
I  have  used  glasses  the  same  as  before  the 
injury,  unless  I  forget  them,  as  I  sometimes 
do,  and  find  myself  reading  and  writing  as 
well  without  them  as  with  them ;  but  as  soon 
as  my  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  my 
glasses  are  not  on,  my  sight  is  affected  and  it 
becomes  necessary  to  put  them  on.  My 
sight  now  averages  as  good  or  better  than 
before  the  injury.  With  the  left  eye,  that 
was  supposed  to  be  entirely  destroyed  and 
which  all  the  doctors  seemed  to  agree  could 
never  be  used,  I  can  now  read  coarse  print 
without  glasses. 

"Dr.  La  Crone  is  now  deceased,  but  the 
other  doctors  referred  to,  as  well  as  Dr.  W. 
F.  Hoyt  of  Paw  Paw  and  Dr.  Frank  Young 
of  South  Haven,  and  no  doubt  others,  could 
be  cited  who  examined  my  eyes,  and  you  are 
at  liberty  to  refer  to  any  of  them.  They  may 
not  concede  the  cure  to  be  the  result  of  men- 
tal treatment  and  understanding,  but  they  are 
all  conscientious,  able  practitioners  in  their 
line.  They  are  all  friends  of  mine  in  this 
sense.  They  know  me  generally;  they  know 
of  my  injury;  and  they  know  that  I  claim  to 


146  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

have  been  cured  by  Christian  Science  princi- 
ples; and  they,  or  some  of  them,  often  talk 
with  me  about  it.  I  give  as  general  refer- 
ences almost  any  business  man  in  south- 
western Michigan,  where  my  life  has  been  an 
open  book. 

"This  letter  is  much  longer  than  necessary 
for  ordinary  purposes,  but  I  have  refrained 
from  permitting  the  facts  to  be  published  be- 
cause so  many  errors  usually  creep  into  such 
communications.  The  above  statements  are 
easily  proven  by  responsible,  conscientious 
people  of  good  standing;  and  if  something 
may  be  gleaned  from  the  mass  that  will  be 
helpful  to  others,  I  shall  be  pleased  to  know 
it." 

In  investigating  Christian  Science  cures  we 
have  been  astonished  to  find  the  great  num- 
ber of  artists,  sculptors,  authors,  as  well  as 
lawyers,  who  have  become  interested  in 
Christian  Science  through  having  been  cured 
after  physicians  of  eminence  have  signally 
failed  to  give  relief. 

Among  this  number  is  Mr.  Charles  Klein, 
the  well-known  author  of  The  Lion  and  the 
Mousey  The  Third  Degree,  The  Music  Mas- 
ter, and  other  popular  plays.  He  was,  as  he 
himself  testifies,  in  a  condition  of  "incipient 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      147 

melancholia/'  in  which  he  "took  a  saddening 
pleasure,  a  morbid  interest  in  thinking  of  the 
joys  of  oblivion.  Life  had  completely  lost 
its  interest."  Prior  to  this  condition,  he 
had  suffered  for  years  from  liver  and  kid- 
ney troubles,  insomnia,  nervous  irritability, 
and  a  constant  dread  of  something  impend- 
ing. He  had  consulted  and  acted  on  the 
advice  and  treatment  of  physicians,  special- 
ists and  aHenists,  but  all  to  no  profit.  In 
fact,  his  condition  grew  steadily  worse.  At 
this  stage  he  was  induced  to  try  Christian 
Science  treatment,  with  the  result,  to  use 
his  own  words,  that:  "I  gradually,  indeed 
almost  immediately,  recovered  my  health,  my 
peace  of  mind,  professional  and  financial 
success,  and  happiness  far  beyond  my  wildest 
dream,  and  I  have  never  taken  a  drug  nor 
consulted  a  physician  since  that  hour.  Under 
Christian  Science  treatment  all  traces  of  kid- 
ney disease  disappeared.  I  suffered  no  more 
from  insomnia.  I  lost  my  desire  for  alcoholic 
stimulants,  and  stomach  troubles  which  I  had 
from  boyhood,  dyspepsia,  nervous  irritability, 
heart,  gastric  and  bowel  ailments,  all  left  me 
by  degrees;  I  had  no  more  of  those  awful 
fits  of  depression,  and  my  whole  life  was 
changed." 


148  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

One  of  the  latest  remarkable  cures  that  has 
been  effected  among  our  leading  artists  and 
illustrators,  is  that  of  Mr.  Howard  Chandler 
Christy,  one  of  the  most  famous  illustrators 
of  the  day.  In  a  personal  letter  to  us,  writ- 
ten under  date  of  November  15,  1908,  Mr. 
Christy  thus  speaks  at  length  of  his  remark- 
able restoration  after  a  well-known  New 
York  physician  had  declared  that  he  would 
lose  his  eyesight  within  three  months. 

'The  trouble  with  my  eyes,"  says  Mr. 
Christy,  "began  several  years  ago,  before  I 
ha4  even  taken  so  much  as  one  drink  of 
alcohol,  and  was  just  beginning  to  use  to- 
bacco. My  eyes  were  examined  by  Dr.  Reese 
and  another  doctor  whose  name  I  have  for- 
gotten and  whose  office  is  in  the  Arcade 
Building,  Fifth  Avenue.  Now,  both  these 
doctors  gave  me  good  advice  which  I  fol- 
lowed until  I  saw  it  did  not  help  my  eyesight. 
They  both  gave  me  little  hope.  Then  Dr. 
E.  E.  TuU  said  I  would  be  totally  bUnd  in 
three  months'  time.  Then  I  tried  William 
Muldoon's  for  one  month;  no  drink  and  no 
smoking.  I  became  strong  in  body,  but  it 
did  not  help  my  eyes.  Then  I  have  tried 
boxing  an  hour  a  day  for  six  weeks  at  a  time. 
Thinking  that  a  healthy  body  would  make 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT       149 

healthy  eyes,  I  tried  heavy  weight  and  mid- 
dle weight  prize  fighters.  My  body  was 
healthy  enough,  but  my  eyes  did  not  improve. 
My  sight  became  so  bad  that  I  could  read 
only  the  headlines  of  a  daily  newspaper ;  and 
about  seven  months  ago  (on  a  Monday  noon) 
I  was  treated  by  a  Christian  Science  practi- 
tioner. I  had  been  very  sick  and  my  health 
was  gone. 

"The  first  thing  I  noticed  after  the  first 
treatment  was  the  change  in  my  eyes. 
Everything  began  to  clear  up.  I  went  out  for 
a  long  walk,  bought  seats  for  the  theatre, 
sat  down  and  found  no  difficulty  in  reading 
the  preface  to  Science  and  Health\2.wA  several 
pages  besides.  Went  to  the  theatre  that 
night.  The  next  day  arranged  to  go  to  work, 
and  Wednesday  morning  I  did  go  to  work 
and  did  the  frontispiece  for  The  Spitfire. 
Then  I  began  the  illustrations  for  James 
Whitcomb  Riley's  Home  Agin  With  Ma, — 
forty-two  drawings  in  all;  then  six  larger 
illustrations  in  color  for  Mrs.  Wilson  Wood- 
row's  novel,  The  Silver  Butterfly.  I  have 
missed  but  one  day's  work  since  that 
Wednesday  morning  I  began  the  first  draw- 
ings, which  was  practically  the  first  work  I 
had  attempted  for  one  year  and  a  half.     My 


ISO  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

eyesight  was  entirely  restored  in  two  weeks' 
time  and  I  have  been  perfectly  healthy,  with 
the  exception  of  about  three  days'  time,  since 
that  first  treatment.  I  was  almost  instantly 
healed  of  a  very  bad  case  of  grippe  and  lost 
only  about  an  hour's  time, — ^just  long  enough 
to  go  down  and  be  treated.  Then  came  back 
and  went  to  work. 

"If  these  facts  can  be  used  to  help  others  I 
am  only  too  glad  to  have  you  use  them.  I 
certainly  would  like  to  do  something  to  show 
my  appreciation  for  what  God  has  done  for 
me  through  Christian  Science." 

Here  we  have  a  volume  of  testimony,  some 
of  it  given  under  oath,  where  the  patients 
knew  they  would  be  subjected  to  rigid  cross 
examination ;  and  in  all  instances  the  reports 
bear  evidence  of  conscientious  and  intelligent 
purpose  to  give  not  only  a  full  and  truthful 
report,  but  a  circumstantial  report  calculat- 
ed to  appeal  to  the  reason  of  all  intelligent, 
thoughtful  and  unbiased  persons.  In  many 
instances  not  only  are  the  records  of  the  most 
intimate  and  circumstantial  character,  but  the 
names  of  the  various  physicians  who  have 
examined  and  treated  the  patients,  and  the 
reports  of  their  diagnoses  are  set  down,  to- 
gether with  the  accounts  of  the  steady  prog- 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      151 

ress  of  the  diseases  under  conscientious 
medical  treatment  and  the  rapid  cure  of  the 
same  disorders  under  Christian  Science.  And 
yet  we  have  only  taken  a  few  cases  from  a 
great  number  of  similar  testimonials  in  our 
possession, — cases  that  may  be  cited  as  fair- 
ly typical  of  a  vast  volume  of  similar  cures. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  the 
latest  and  most  popular  explanation  advanced 
by  physicians  and  other  critics  of  Christian 
Science  to  account  for  remarkable  cures  that 
have  been  effected  under  this  treatment. 
Some  ministers  no  less  than  physicians  are 
insistent  in  their  claim  that  Christian  Science 
cures  are  due  wholly  to  suggestion.  Their 
position  in  this  respect  is  clearly  set  forth  in 
the  following  words  taken  from  an  article  by 
Professor  Willett,  a  prominent  minister,  in 
The  Christian  Century  for  January  9,  1909. 
In  answer  to  some  queries  in  regard  to  Chris- 
tian Science,  Professor  Willett  among  other 
things  says : 

"The  principle  which  Christian  Science  em- 
ploys is  the  simple  one  of  suggestion.  This 
is  the  basis  of  every  form  of  mental  therapeu- 
tics practiced  to-day.  .  .  .  It  is  a  satis- 
faction to  record  the  undeniable  fact  that 
Christian  Science,  like  the  other  forms   of 


152  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

1 
mental  healing,  has  wrought  great  good  to 

many  sufferers.  People  whom  other  forms 
of  treatment  left  without  hope  have  been 
quickened  into  new  health  and  happiness  by 
the  practice.  This  result  is  quite  independent 
of  the  theory  of  Christian  Science,  and  would 
be  the  same  under  any  other  of  the  forms 
of  suggestive  therapeutics.  Many  people  are 
only  mentally  sick  anyway.  That  is,  they  are 
impressed  with  the  belief  that  they  are  ac- 
tually suffering  from  some  malady  over  which 
medicine  is  powerless  to  work  healing.  In 
thousands  of  cases,  even  of  acute  physical 
suffering,  these  maladies  have  been  shown 
to  be  purely  mental  and  imaginary.  . 
In  all  these  cases  it  is  the  central  principle 
of  suggestion,  whether  employed  in  hypno- 
tism, suggestion  proper,  or  what  is  known  as 
re-education.  Christian  Science  is  merely 
one  of  the  forms  of  healing  which  make  use, 
some  of  them  unconsciously,  of  this  fact.'' 

The  above  opinion  admirably  summarizes 
the  attitude  of  those  who  rely  upon  this  most 
popular  of  all  present-day  explanations  of 
Christian  Science  cures.  It  may  be  charac- 
terized as  the  latest  sheet-anchor  of  those 
who  are  forced  to  recognize  the  healing  re- 
sults   attending   Christian   Science   practice. 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      153 

These  critics  are  most  insistent  in  their  dec- 
laration that  wherever  actual  cures  have 
been  made,  they  are  the  result  of  suggestion 
essentially  similar  in  character  to  that  em- 
ployed in  hypnotism,  though  the  results  are 
obtained  without  the  use  of  hypnosis. 

We  have  during  the  past  twenty  years  de- 
voted considerable  time  to  the  study  of  the 
literature  of  hypnotism — the  writings  and  the 
recorded  experiences  of  the  master  psycholo- 
gists and  physicians  of  Continental  Europe, 
England  and  America,  who  have  made  ex- 
haustive studies  and  extensive  practice  of 
hypnotic  suggestion  and  who  are  justly  en- 
titled to  be  regarded  as  authorities  in  this 
department  of  experimental  science;  and  we 
do  not  call  to  mind  a  single  instance  where 
one  of  these  men,  even  among  the  most  en- 
thusiastic and  ardent  upholders  of  hypnotism 
as  a  therapeutic  agent,  ever  claimed  that  any 
clearly-defined  organic  disease  of  the  char- 
acter, for  example,  of  blastomycosis,  tubercu- 
losis of  the  hip  joints,  tuberculosis  of  the 
lungs,  Bright's  disease,  etc.,  could  be  cured 
by  suggestion.  We  have  talked  at  length 
with  eminent  regular  physicians  who  have 
made  a  special  study  of  hypnotism  and  who 
have  great  faith  in  its  therapeutic  value  in 


154  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

certain  cases,  but  in  every  instance  they  in- 
sisted that  its  value  lay  in  the  treatment  of 
functional  diseases ;  that  it  could  not  be 
hoped  to  effect  a  cure  in  any  well-defined 
case  of  organic  disease.  In  no  instance  have 
we  found  a  reputable  physician,  no  matter 
how  enthusiastic  he  was  in  his  belief  in  the 
value  of  hypnotism,  who  believed  it  could 
cure  cases  where  the  vital  organs  had  been 
assailed  and  where  physical  disintegration 
had  set  in;  and  they  all  agreed  with  the  em- 
inent and  authoritative  writers,  that  the  pro- 
vince of  suggestion  was  restricted  to  func- 
tional disorders.  The  regular  medical  pro- 
fession and  European  savants  whose  opinions 
are  recognized  as  authoritative  by  the  pro- 
fession, are,  we  believe,  a  unit  in  the  main- 
tenance of  this  position. 

With  this  fact  in  mind,  let  us  turn  to  the 
consideration  of  the  subject  in  hand.  Here 
we  are  in  the  presence  of  cures  of  diseases 
which  in  the  opinion  of  high  medical  author- 
ity and  according  to  the  microscope  and  other 
scientific  tests  are  unquestionably  organic 
diseases — diseases  which  are  considered  in- 
curable  in  their   advanced   stages,   and  yet 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      155 

which  have  been  entirely  cured  by  Christian 
Science,  and  the  patients  have  for  years  been 
in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  health  after  years 
of  invalidism  of  the  most  distressing  and 
hopeless  character. 

Since  the  medical  profession  does  not 
claim  that  hypnotism  can  cure  such  organic 
diseases  as  blastomycosis,  tuberculosis  of  the 
hip  joints,  consumption  of  the  lungs,  etc.,  one 
such  case  which  has  been  so  competently 
diagnosed  as  to  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  real 
character  of  the  trouble,  which  has  been  cured 
by  Christian  Science  treatment,  causes  the 
explanation  of  suggestion  as  the  rationale  of 
the  cure  necessarily  to  fall  to  the  ground. 

With  the  recognition  of  this  fact,  let  the 
reader  return  to  the  history  of  Mrs.  Oliver's 
case  as  given  by  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  and  the  cure  as  re- 
ported by  Mr.  Oliver.  Then  let  him  read  the 
cures  given  by  Doctors  Wilding  and  Burton, 
referred  to  in  this  chapter  but  given  in  detail 
in  Chapter  III,  after  which  let  him  peruse 
the  circumstantial  testimony  of  Mr.  J.  J. 
Petermichel,  Mrs.  Josephine  A.  Hebbard, 
Mrs.    D.   W.    King,    Mrs.    Lila  Young,  and 


156  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

Mr.  E.  A.  Crane,  as  given  in  this  paper. 
These  cases  render  entirely  inadequate  the 
explanation  that  in  suggestion,  such  as  prac- 
ticed by  the  master  hypnotists,  is  to  be  found 
the  rationale  of  the  cures  of  Christian 
Science. 

We   have   now   noticed  the   three   master 
claims  advanced  by  the  medical  profession 
and  other  critics  of  Christian  Science  to  ex- 
plain the  alleged  cures  of  organic  diseases 
and  afflictions  pronounced  incurable  or  which 
physicians  had  long  faithfully  but  unsuccess- 
fully treated.    We  have  seen  that  if  medical 
diagnosis  is  of  any  value,  organic  disease  has 
been  cured  by  Christian  Science;  that  none 
of    the    greatest    authorities    on    hypnotism 
would  venture  to  claim  that  many  of  the  dis- 
eases that  have  been  restored  under  Chris- 
tion   Science  treatment  could  be   cured  by 
hypnotic  suggestion ;  and  we  submit  also  that 
the  character  of  the  testimony  given  is  such 
as  to  thoroughly  discredit  the  claim  of  incom- 
petency on  the  part  of  those  giving  the  evi- 
dence.   Surely  the  facts  here  given — though 
they  are  only  a  small  part  of  the  volume  of 
evidence  which  we  hold,  and  but  for  want  of 


A   THERAPEUTIC   AGENT      157 

space  would  have  given — are  sufficient  to 
challenge  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  all 
earnest  and  high-minded  lovers  of  the  truth. 
If  human  testimony  is  worth  anything,  these 
cases,  representative  as  they  are  of  a  vast 
army  of  men  and  women  who  have  been  in 
the  same  manner  restored  to  health,  prove 
that  Christian  Science  is  to-day  doing  a  work 
for  the  restoration  of  the  sick  which  medical 
science  and  other  means  of  relief  have  sig- 
nally failed  to  accomplish. 

And  yet,  that  which  to  us  is  the  most 
profoundly  significant  feature  of  Christian 
Science  practice  has  not  here  been  touched 
upon,  as  it  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of 
this  paper.  We  refer  to  its  influence  in 
awakening  the  spiritual  side  of  life  or  moral 
idealism  in  its  adherents,  developing  charac- 
ter and  affording  moral  supremacy  over 
the  dominion  of  passion,  appetite  and 
physical  desire.  And  it  is  a  notable  fact 
that  in  almost  every  report  of  cure  which 
we  have  received,  the  spiritual  awaken- 
ing which  has  brought  the  patient  from  the 
bondage  of  sense  dominion  to  moral  mastery 
is  given  precedence  as  the  crowning  result 


158  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

that  has  followed  this  treatment.  That  Chris- 
tian Science  arouses  moral  ideahsm  in  those 
who  come  in  a  vital  way  under  its  influence 
is  abundantly  proved  by  the  life  and  testi- 
mony of  thousands  of  thoughtful  people ;  and 
in  an  age  like  the  present,  when  the  material- 
ism of  the  market  has  laid  so  firm  a  hand  on 
church,  state,  school  and  press,  nothing  is 
more  urgently  demanded  than  the  spiritual 
enthusiasm  that  is  born  of  moral  idealism. 


■k         UNIVERSITY  OP  CALIFORNIA  LIBRAE 

HOME  USE 

CRCUIATION  M'ARTWBNT 

MAIN  LIBRARY 

l-montt  loans  ^^l^^'Sliiii  bringing  books 
6..,ntb.«ansn,«^be^'«5'  V 
„ene«ah3narecb.g«n,^^emade4    V  P 


UNIV. 


oTCAUFr^ 


VED 

maToTws 

C!RCULAT!CN  DEPT. 


IjD21 


_A-40OT-12."'* 
(S2100I.) 


..i^£»-    i 


<->.  \j.  i_>i_i  ii\i_i_i_  I    i_iuii/-vriiuo 


CDS2S7S17b 


YB  31090 


d 


w 


239181 


L^\.V-C.,.?.. 


••», 


•^*4 


